Annex - Public Lending Right calculations and payments – the impact of the pandemic and lockdown
Updated 6 January 2022
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/public-lending-right-rate-per-loan-2020-to-2021-consultation/de1c6ac3-65c1-4a42-8f03-e67c57f80f29
Although libraries had to close their doors for many weeks due to the Covid-19 pandemic, they continued to loan e-books, audio books and a selection of printed works throughout. However, the period of closures affected the number of library loans and, in turn, the Public Lending Right Rate Per Loan figure and payments to authors and other rights holders.
Public Lending Right (PLR) legally entitles authors and other rights holders to receive payments from a central fund in relation to public lending of their books in the UK. The 2020/21 PLR Scheme applied to the lending of books, audiobooks, e-books and e-audiobooks from public libraries.
The British Library Board is responsible for making an annual recommendation to the Secretary of State for the Rate Per Loan to be paid to registered authors, illustrators and other contributors to compensate them for the loan of their books from public libraries. The Rate Per Loan is calculated by dividing the PLR fund available by the total number of loans of registered works from public libraries in the UK. This is based on loans data annually collected by the British Library from a sample of UK public libraries.
While the size of the Public Lending Right fund and the Rate Per Loan calculation remain unchanged, the borrowing figures from the sample libraries recorded between 1 July 2020 and 30 June 2021 were reduced due to Covid-19 lockdowns. The reduction in the total number of loans has led to an increase in the Rate Per Loan from 9.55p in 2019/20 to 11.26p in 2020/21, with 20,475 rights holders within the payment threshold (compared to 20,911 in 2019/20).
It is likely that authors will see the temporary increase in the Rate Per Loan reflected in their 2020/21 PLR statement and resulting payment. This variation due to unprecedented circumstances is also likely to impact on the Rate Per Loan in 2021/22.
For more information on why this will be the case, see British Library guidance.