Open consultation

Consultation on the Public Lending Right rate per loan for the Scheme Year 2024/25

Updated 13 October 2025

1. Summary

The Public Lending Right (PLR) is the right for eligible authors, illustrators, narrators and other book contributors to receive payment in respect of the loans of their books by public libraries in the UK. The PLR applies to the lending of books, audiobooks, e-books and e-audiobooks (including the remote lending of e-books and e-audiobooks) from public library services.

The British Library proposes the PLR rate per loan on an annual basis to take account of changes in the total number of books borrowed during the relevant year. They recommend the highest rate per loan possible, ensuring that the total payments due under the Scheme do not exceed, or fall short of, the available PLR fund. When loans go up, the rate per loan adjusts down; when loans go down, the rate per loan adjusts up. The British Library writes annually to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) with its recommendation for the proposed amendment to the PLR rate per loan.

In accordance with PLR legislation, the British Library Board has made its annual recommendation to the Secretary of State for a change to the rate per loan to be paid from the PLR fund to registered authors, illustrators and other contributors to compensate them for the loan of their books from public libraries. To establish a basis for these payments the British Library’s PLR office collects loans data from a representative sample of public libraries throughout the UK, which in accordance to the PLR Scheme is then ‘grossed’ up by PLR region using national loan figures (obtained directly from library authorities) to produce a national loans estimate for each book/audio book/e-book registered for PLR. The total registered loans figure is divided into the money available for distribution from the PLR fund, making the necessary adjustments to apply PLR’s minimum and maximum payment thresholds, to provide a rate per loan.

DCMS notes this recommendation and proposes to vary the PLR Scheme accordingly, and to bring the variation into force by statutory instrument. Before any variation is made, the department is seeking your views on the specific proposal.

2. Background to the Public Lending Right

The Public Lending Right Act 1979 (“the PLR Act 1979”) provides a right, known as the “Public Lending Right” (PLR), for authors and other eligible rights holders to receive payments from a central fund in respect of such of their books as are lent out to the public by local library authorities in the United Kingdom. The classes, descriptions and categories of books to which the PLR applies, the persons eligible for payments in respect of it, and the amounts of those payments, are determined in accordance with the PLR Scheme made by the Secretary of State under the PLR Act 1979, and brought into force by statutory instrument (SI) (the Public Lending Right Scheme 1982 (Commencement) Order 1982), and subsequent SIs/variations which have varied the Scheme.

The PLR Scheme has been managed by the British Library Board since 1 October 2013. It is grant funded for this function by the DCMS. PLR payments are made annually by the British Library to eligible authors who register their books with the British Library’s PLR Office. Authors resident in the UK or European Economic Area are eligible to apply for registration in respect of eligible works. A register of eligible authors and books is maintained by the PLR office.

The amounts paid to authors in respect of each financial year are calculated to reflect the level of borrowing in all public libraries in the UK based on detailed loans information collected from library authorities in the PLR sample for the Scheme year (1 July to 30 June) which ended in that financial year.

Each year, over 20,000 writers and other rights holders (such as illustrators, photographers, narrators, producers, abridgers, translators and editors) who have contributed to books lent out by public libraries in the UK receive PLR payments - in total, over £6 million is distributed each year. A maximum payment threshold per author of £6,600 applies and the minimum payment is £1.

3. The Proposal

DCMS proposes to vary the PLR rate per loan for the Scheme Year 2024/25 from 11.76 pence to 12.40 pence.

The British Library Board has proposed a rate per loan of 12.40 pence for payments in relation to the 2024/25 PLR Scheme year. This represents an increase of 0.64 pence - from 11.76 pence to 12.40 pence - from the rate per loan for 2023/24 payments.

This proposed increase primarily reflects a decrease in the number of registered and qualifying book loans over the previous PLR Scheme year. The total loans figure for the 2024/25 calculation (for PLR Scheme year from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025) is c.168 million compared to c.171 million for the 2023/24 calculation (for PLR Scheme year from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024). Other factors such as an increase in the number of registered authors and an increase in the funding allocated by the British Library to the PLR Scheme (£6.41m for 2023/24 and £6.54m for 2024/25) also affect the rate per loan calculation.

This increase to the rate per loan is expected to have a minimal impact on the overall distribution of earnings, with payments between the different bands closely matching previous years.

4. Profile

Please indicate whether you are responding individually or representing an organisation. Choose “in my own right” if sharing personal views, or “on behalf of” if providing official responses for an organisation or a Devolved Administration.

Please choose from the following:

• I am responding in my own right as an author, translator, illustrator or editor
• I am responding on behalf of an organisation
• I am responding on behalf of a Devolved Administration
• Other (please specify) __________________

5. Consultation Question

This consultation is seeking views on DCMS’s proposal to vary the PLR Scheme rate per loan for the Scheme Year 2024/25.

Q. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the proposal to vary the rate per loan for the PLR Scheme Year 2024/25 from 11.76 pence to 12.40 pence.

• Strongly disagree

• Somewhat disagree
• Neither agree or disagree
• Somewhat agree
• Strongly agree

Please provide any reasons for your answer. (500 character limit)

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Please provide any further comments that specifically relate to this consultation and the proposal to vary the PLR rate per loan for the Scheme Year 2024/25. (500 character limit)

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6. How to Respond

Responses to the consultation can be submitted in the following ways:

Preferred

1. Online survey - We strongly encourage responses via survey. This will greatly assist our analysis of the responses.

Begin your response here 

Alternatively

2. Email - Please title your email: “Consultation on the Public Lending Right rate per loan for the Scheme Year 2024/25”. Please clearly indicate your response to the questions at Sections 4 and 5. Responses via this method should be sent to: rate_per_loan@dcms.gov.uk

Please confirm that you are content to provide your name and contact details and if so, please include the information with your response.

or

3. Postal - Please state the subject of your letter as: “Consultation on the Public Lending Right rate per loan for the Scheme Year 2024/25”. Please clearly indicate your response to the questions at Sections 4 and 5. If you decide to send a written hard copy response, this should be sent to:

Libraries Team The Department for Culture, Media and Sport 100 Parliament Street London SW1A 2BQ

Please confirm that you are content to provide your name and contact details and if so, please include the information with your response.

If you require any other format (e.g. braille or large font), please contact enquiries@dcms.gov.uk.

Duration

This public consultation will be open for four weeks, running from 13 October 2025 and closing at 18.00 on 7 November 2025.

We will then publish the government’s response to this consultation on the GOV.UK website, summarising the responses received and setting out the actions we plan to take in respect of them.

7. Privacy Notice

7.1 Who is collecting my data?

The Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS). The Culture Directorate within this department is seeking views on proposed technical amendments to the PLR Scheme. In order to better understand views from the public and our key stakeholders, we are collecting your views via an online survey, by email and by post. For the purposes of personal data collected as part of this consultation, DCMS is the Data Controller. Qualitrics will collect your personal data on behalf of DCMS and is the data processor. 

7.2 Purpose of this Privacy Notice

This notice is provided to meet our obligations as set out in Articles 13 and 14 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA). This notice sets out how DCMS will use your personal data.

DCMS’s personal information charter explains how we deal with your information. It also explains how you can ask to view, change or remove your information from our records.

7.3 What is personal data?

Personal data is any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural living person, otherwise known as a ‘data subject’.

7.4 What personal data do we collect?

The personal information we collect and process is provided to us directly by you. This includes:

• your name and / or organisation you work for:
• your contact details, such as the email address you use to contact us

7.5 How will we use your data?

We use personal information to enable us to carry out our functions as a government department. DCMS has commissioned a third party, Qualtrics, to collect your personal data on its behalf. This means we have asked Qualtrics to collect your information via an online survey, which we will review as part of the consultation process.

7.6 What is the legal basis for processing my data?

To process this personal data, our legal basis is:

Article 6 (1) (e) of the UK GDPR: it is necessary to perform a public task (to carry out a public function or exercise powers set out in law, or to perform a specific task in the public interest that is set out in law). In this case, the processing of your personal data is necessary for the performance of a task in the public interest, as the information gathered helps inform future policies.

As part of the consultation process, DCMS will process your personal data as necessary for the effective performance of a task carried out in the public interest as permitted under section 8(d) of the DPA 2018.

7.7 What will happen if I do not provide this data?

Respondents do not have to provide personal data, as this is optional. However,where any personal data is provided, we will aim to minimise sharing the personal data, wherever possible. 

7.8 Who will your data be shared with?

No personal data will be shared outside of DCMS with the exception of our contractor Qualtrics.

7.9 How long will my data be held for?

We will only retain your personal data for 2 years in line with DCMS retention policy.

7.10 Will my data be used for automated decision making or profiling?

We will not use your data for any automated decision making.

7.11 Will my data be transferred outside the UK and if it is how will it be protected?

Your data may be transferred and stored securely outside the UK. In such cases, it will be protected by equivalent legal safeguards, either through an adequacy decision or the use of International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA) and Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs)

7.12 Links to other websites

Where we provide links to websites of other organisations, this privacy notice does not cover how that organisation processes personal information. We encourage you to read the privacy notices of the other websites you visit.

7.13 What are your data protection rights?

You have rights over your personal data under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018). 

DCMS will ensure that we uphold your data subject rights when processing your personal data, and where the data protection legislation allows us to do so.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the supervisory authority for data protection legislation, and maintains a full explanation of these rights on their website. DCMS will ensure that we uphold your rights when processing your personal data.

7.14 How do I complain?

The contact details for the data controller’s Data Protection Officer (DPO) are:

Data Protection Officer The Department for Culture, Media & Sport  100 Parliament Street London SW1A 2BQ Email: dpo@dcms.gov.uk

If you’re unhappy with the way we have handled your personal data and want to make a complaint, please write to the department’s Data Protection Officer or the Data Protection Manager at the relevant agency. You can contact the department’s Data Protection Officer using the details above.

7.15 How to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office

If you believe that your personal data has been misused or mishandled, you may make a complaint to the Information Commissioner, who is an independent regulator. You may also contact them to seek independent advice about data protection, privacy and data sharing.

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Website: www.ico.org.uk 

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Any complaint to the Information Commissioner is without prejudice to your right to seek redress through the courts.

7.16 Changes to our privacy notice

We may make changes to this privacy policy. In that case, the ‘last updated’ date at the bottom of this page will also change. Any changes to this privacy policy will apply to you and your data immediately.

If these changes affect how your personal data is processed, DCMS will take reasonable steps to let you know.

This notice was last updated on 13th October 2025.