What members can expect from ALCS in 2025

Barbara Hayes discusses the upcoming distribution, the appointment of a new Chair to the ALCS Board, reviews to improve the way we operate and our plans to engage with our members in the coming year.

If we thought 2024 was a busy year, 2025 is already shaping up to outdo it! We’ve hit the ground running, gearing up for our March distribution, which promises to be another significant milestone. We’re excited to announce plans to distribute over £30m in this first payout of the year, covering eligible serials claims and other funds collected in recent months.

Cybersecurity continues to be a top priority for us in 2025. As part of our commitment to continuous improvement, we’re investing in cutting-edge measures to ensure our systems remain as secure as possible. Alongside this, our Strategic Systems Programme is progressing well, which will help ensure our technology is at the forefront of innovation. For fans of The Six Million Dollar Man, we like to think of our system as becoming “better, stronger, faster” in handling data collection, processing, and distributions—thankfully, without the $6m price tag! That said, it remains a significant and meaningful investment in the future of ALCS.

As you know, we are currently looking to recruit a new Chair of the ALCS Board. The process is underway, with, we hope, a successful candidate being introduced to the membership very soon.

At our AGM in Cardiff, we updated our Articles to ensure the ALCS Board of Directors has the right mix of skills and experience needed for the challenges ahead. If you’re interested in standing for a Board position, keep an eye out this summer when we’ll announce the areas of expertise we’re seeking. We encourage anyone who fits the criteria to apply.

Following last year’s materiality assessment, we’re excited to roll out our Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Plan, which has been approved by the Board. Look out for our first ESG report, set to be published on our website ahead of the next AGM in November.

On the global stage, we’re continuing to strengthen relationships with Collective Management Organisations worldwide. This ensures we can collect for all uses of your work, wherever it’s being used. Closer to home, we’re planning several ‘town hall’ meetings with our members across the UK this year. These sessions will give us a chance to hear from you, address key issues, and share updates on how ALCS is working to maximise your income. It’ll also be a great networking opportunity with a drinks reception too!

Our core mission remains unchanged: to protect and promote your rights while ensuring you’re fairly rewarded for the use of your work. As we look ahead, 2025 promises to be another challenging yet rewarding year for writers. Developments in AI policy will undoubtedly be an area to watch closely, but on a brighter note, writers can look forward to sharing their exceptional works with an eager public across an ever-expanding array of platforms.

Here’s to a successful year ahead for all of us!

Richard Combes discusses what the coming year has in store for the issue of AI, including the Government’s consultation on AI and copyright, along with our other campaigning focuses for the year ahead.

At the start of the year, a group of science fiction writers were invited to join researchers and policymakers at a Ministry of Defence-sponsored event to imagine the future disasters that might befall us in an increasingly complex and unpredictable world. We’re hoping the Government will be equally receptive to writers highlighting the pitfalls associated with its current policy direction on copyright and AI.

At a time when so much is still unknown about the operations and endgame for Generative AI systems, sweeping plans to grant technology companies permission to use the works of writers and other creators to train them feel premature and unbalanced. What we do know, and need to address as a matter of urgency, is the current deficit in terms of transparency and consent in this area. The majority of respondents to our member survey last year did not know if their works had been used by AI companies for training purposes. Of those that did, only 7% had given permission.

The options currently under review by the Government include new legal regulations requiring greater transparency from AI companies and supporting choice by strengthening copyright licensing, and we will be urging them to do both. Although the Government’s consultation runs until the 25 February – and we encourage members to engage with it by following our guidance – this conversation is likely to continue through the rest of the year, and beyond.

Turning away from AI, 2025 will be the first full year of licensing for AVLA, the new collective licensing organisation for audiovisual works used in the business sector. This year will also see the first steps taken by SCOOP, our new venture with the NUJ and visuals arts bodies to secure fees for freelance journalists for the re-use of their works online. We will also be working with colleagues to push forward the case for the Smart Fund, which recognises the critical value that creative content brings to the mobile device market.

That’s a lot to coordinate, so we will be continuing to work with the Government to establish the office of a Freelancer Commissioner, as a champion across Whitehall for the writers and others who contribute so much to the economy, especially within the creative sector, but whose working lives are fraught with uncertainty and precarity.

So, a busy year ahead freighted with opportunity and threat, the latter bearing a weighty burden of jeopardy for writers and creatives, as the Government shapes its policy on copyright and AI. If we are to avoid the kind of dystopian future beloved of science fiction writers, in which books, film, music and culture all bubbles up from the same algorithmic swamp, we must hope the Government is in listening mode.