Announcement of further help for schools and colleges during current closures

We are pleased to announce that following consultation with our members, there will be a temporary increase in the copy limit in the Education Licence that applies to schools and colleges, from the current 5% to 20%, until 31 March 2021.

As in a similar move during the first lockdown period last April, this change will give teachers and students more flexibility to access resources to support remote learning while schools are closed.

The changes to the licence terms mean that teachers can copy up to 20% of a print book, owned by the school, including scanned book content held on the school VLE.

Phil Hearne, CLA’s Director of Education said

“We recognise the difficult time teachers are having and we are delighted to announce this support today, due to swift backing from our Members and the publishers, authors and visual artists they represent. These temporary measures will improve availability of book content for staff and students over this difficult period.” 

Schools and teachers that are registered to use CLA’s Education Platform will also be able to copy up to 20% of a digital book available on the Platform.  Any teachers at a CLA licensed school are eligible to register at no cost.

School Standards Minister Nick Gibb said:

“We welcome this move from the Copyright Licensing Agency, which will put even more resources at teachers’ fingertips and help them deliver the education all pupils deserve while they are at home. Teachers have worked tirelessly to provide high-quality remote education throughout the pandemic, and any step to support them and all education staff is a positive one.”

This is a gesture made in exceptional circumstances by creators and copyright owners who have seen their own businesses and work considerably impacted by Covid-19 but who have a genuine desire to support the national educational effort.

This initiative will provide the support that schools and individual educators need to deliver quality remote learning at this time.

In order to monitor usage, teachers are asked to record details of any copies that they make under these new terms via a simple web-form made available by CLA.