We hold allocations for periods of time, to allow for identification and contact of rightsholders.
We hold allocations from statutory licence fees for four years, in accordance with regulatory requirements. We now hold allocations from non-statutory licence fees 12 months. Before May 2020, our practice was to hold allocations from non-statutory licence fees for four years, and we are currently holding some unpaid allocations from non-statutory licence fees made more than 12 months ago.
The Board decides how unpaid allocations will be applied after the time period has elapsed. As of 1 July 2022, we are currently including unpaid allocations (‘rollovers’) in distributions of licence fees.
In 2020–21, 1.7% of funds allocated in 2016–17 remained unpaid.
The main reasons for allocations remaining unpaid are: that, with resources proportionate to the allocated amount, we were unable to:
- with resources proportionate to the allocated amount, we were unable to identify a rightsholder or contact an identified rightsholder; or
- a contacted rightsholder did not become a member
We provide information in our annual reports about the amounts of unpaid allocations, and the reasons the allocations were unpaid in the time period. You can see the annual report for 2020–21 here (see section 13.5).
There is also information in the annual reports about unpaid allocations that were retained in a reserve fund, known as the Future Fund, between 2013 and 2016. The Board has approved release of some of those funds to meet expenses, over time, with the effect of reducing our deductions for operating costs.
1 July 2022
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