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Copyright

Last updated on 02 November 2020

Copyright

CLA royalties data collection of photocopying, scanning and digital / website re-use of copyright material including music

All UK schools hold a CLA (Copyright Licensing Agency) schools’ license, an NLA (Newspaper Licensing Agency) schools’ license and an SPML (School Printed Music License).

These licenses are paid for by the DfE and the costs then recouped by the DfE from the Local Authorities (LAs). The licenses permit schools to copy and reproduce extracts from digital and print publications on behalf of the copyright owners – authors, publishers and visual artists. This includes electronic, online or print versions of books, journals and magazines, websites, press cuttings or documents supplied by a licensed third party. Please note: this does not include copyrighted images and photos found on the web, for which permission to use needs to be sought separately.

The CLA collects data from schools on an ongoing basis, and targets 30 LAs per year (10 LAs per term). This data is not used to “catch schools out” or to reprimand them for the materials they are copying or reproducing. It is purely an exercise to understand which publications schools are using and the quantities they are copying, so the money generated from the license fees can be accurately passed back to the appropriate authors, publishers and visual artists.

Due to the scale of the process, LAs are generally targeted roughly only every five years, and Hertfordshire was last selected as one of the LAs to be included in the data collection in the autumn term 2016.

Approximately 25% of Hertfordshire schools are randomly selected to participate in a collection process, with schools from all phases being included. The data collection takes place across a period of 55 working days, with data collection points set up in each school so staff can quickly log what they are copying. Schools must collect data across the same nominated 55-day period.

Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA)

Last updated on 02 November 2020