Dear Colleague,

PUBLIC LENDING RIGHT (PLR) RATE PER LOAN 2013

I am writing to seek your views and, if relevant, the views of those you represent on the above matter.

Each year, the Public Lending Right (PLR) Registrar recommends to the Secretary of State an amount to be paid to registered authors from the PLR Fund to compensate them for the loan of their books from public libraries. The amount due to each author is based on a rate per loan calculated from the total number of loans nationally and the size of the fund available. In the most recent payments distribution, undertaken in February this year, the rate per loan was 6.05 pence.

The Registrar has proposed a rate per loan of 6.20 pence for the February 2013 payments. This represents an increase of 0.15 pence, or 2.48 per cent, on last year’s rate. The recommended increase is in part due to savings made in the costs of running the scheme, and in part due to a decrease in the estimated loans of books registered for PLR.

We support the Registrar’s recommendation that the 2013 payments are made at a rate per loan of 6.20 pence. If you wish to make any comments on this proposal, please send your response to the Libraries team at the postal address above, or by email to: rate_per_loan@culture.gsi.gov.uk by Monday 3 December. 

Head of Libraries