PLR: Writers' bodies open letter to DCMS

The Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS), along with the Royal Society of Literature (RSL), the Society of Authors (SoA) and seven other writers' bodies have issued an open letter to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport urging them to keep Public Lending Right functioning as it is.

The letter has been released in response to the recently published consultation into PLR by the DCMS.

The consultation document outlines five options; these include leaving the current arrangements for administering PLR in place, and transferring the function to various other bodies, including ALCS. The government believes it is unlikely that the current PLR office will be able to deliver further efficiency savings and that this, in turn, could lead to a reduction in the remuneration available for authors.

The letter outlines that not all of the options have been put forward to the public properly, and that any other option does not have writers' interests at heart.

Bodies who have put their names to the letter include The Writers' Guild of Great Britain, The Association of Authors' Agents and the National Union of Journalists.

To read the letter, see here.

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