Four leaders of UK collecting societies urged the government to adopt a proposed device contribution fund, saying it could direct money to creators as officials seek more evidence on private copying.
In a letter published by The Guardian on Oct. 25, the signers said, “Those creators should share in the value their work helps generate.” They were Barbara Hayes, chief executive of Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society; Tayyiba Nasser, chief executive of British Equity Collecting Society; Christian Zimmermann, chief executive of Design and Artists Copyright Society; and Paul Seheult, chief executive of PICSEL.
Under the Smart Fund FAQ, manufacturers or importers would make a one-time contribution, typically equal to 1% to 3% of an eligible device’s sale value. Collective management organizations would handle collection and distribution. Advocates project annual proceeds of £250 million to £300 million, which the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee described as an estimate from supporters of the proposal.
The FAQ says consumers would not pay directly at checkout, but the committee said who ultimately bears the cost remains a policy question. It also cited a Frontier Economics analysis that found no evidence of higher device prices in countries with larger per-device levies.
The letter linked its appeal to Anthropic’s Oct. 18 announcement that it planned to commit 5% of its shares to a public-benefit fund, subject to stockholder approval. The Smart Fund materials describe the proposal as addressing private copying and storage on devices; they do not describe it as a compensation mechanism for AI training.
CREATe research at the University of Glasgow reported median annual income of £12,500 for self-employed visual artists in a 2024 study, a 47% real-terms decline from 2010. Its 2022 survey found median annual writing earnings of £7,000 among self-employed authors whose main occupation was writing. A separate 2024 CREATe report found median yearly earnings of £17,500 for audiovisual performers.
In April 2024, the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee urged the government to work with creative industries on legislation for private-copying payments. The government said increased streaming may have reduced such copying and that it needed more evidence about current user behavior before deciding whether to act. The High Court quashed a private-copying exception introduced in 2014; the Intellectual Property Office said the evidence did not adequately support allowing copying without a levy. A related levy amendment was withdrawn during consideration of the Data (Use and Access) Bill, which received royal assent on June 19, 2025.
