Are volunteer libraries statutory or non-statutory?

The following is my own view culled from reading all relevant government and press reports for the last three years.  It does not represent legal advice.  The page is the result of a collaboration with blog reader “Librariesmatter”.  Please do send in any more information or thoughts to ianlibrarian@live.co.uk in order to improve this page.

A volunteer library can count towards a council’s statutory provision. The council can decide if the library is statutory or non statutory.  If the former then there should be ongoing council support and the library is included in any DCMS assessment of whether the council is meeting it’s obligations under the 1964 Act.

There has been no case law on this but the  following points suggest that a Council should support a volunteer library if it is to be considered as statutory:

• The Council has to annually set a ‘balanced budget’ under the Local  Government Finance Act 1992. The Council has to set an annual budget where its legal  commitments are funded. It’s commitments include the full cost of providing the  statutory public library service.
• The Council should fund third sector organisations providing public  services on its behalf using the ‘full cost recovery method’. This is the total  cost of delivering the service including relevant overheads. This approach also  implies that a community-run library should not have to seek donations or  non-Council grants to provide the statutory service. Guidance can be found in
  • The Compact – HM Government: where Section 3 implies funding the full service cost.
  • Improving financial relationships with the third sector: a guide for  funders and purchasers HM Treasury 2006: where funding and full cost recovery is on page 35. The principles in the  document were agreed by the LGA see page 63.
  • Delivering public services – Charity Commission: which similarly supports full cost recovery where the library is a charity.
• There is a general duty to ensure equitable treatment between  communities and residents. For example, if a town library is operated by the  Council then the Council pays 100% of the running costs. If a community-run  library is part of the Council’s statutory library service then it would be  inequitable for the Council to not fund the community-run library. Some  residents, in the vicinity of the community-run library, would end up paying  twice for the statutory library service [Although this does not appear to be a legal requirement to avoid: For a guide on “double taxation” see this link – Ed.].

If the branch is non statutory then the council has no responsibilities for the building and can therefore offer no support for it whatsoever or it can, on the other hand, support it. The simple fact that a council supports a volunteer library in some way does not imply it is statutory. If the library is non-statutory then funding it is not a legal commitment  of the Council. This is leaving aside any  local contractual commitments for example commitments under a building  lease.  Under the Council’s general power of competence (Localism Act 2011)  a Council could fund a non-statutory library partially or fully but it has no  power to specifically raise taxes to do this. The existence of a non statutory building has no relevance to the statutory service under the Libraries Act.

Double taxation (“librariesmatter” response to NALC note)

“I don’t think  the NALC note is particularly relevant to local statutory community-run public  libraries.

The two areas  mentioned in the NALC note were 1) delegation and 2) organisational.

1)       If a service is delegated from say a County Council to a  Parish Council then the relevant funding should be passed down to. For a service  like footpaths determining the necessary funding     is  likely to be an inexact science, so sometimes PCs will top up the delegated  funding to maintain/improve footpaths that concern local residents. Is this  double taxation? I’m not sure it     is.

2)       The second area is organisational where different levels of  government provide a service in some places compared to others. This would be  double taxation if it was clear that taxes were     being  raised in an authority for a service they weren’t providing. There is a let out  if is administratively too difficult to avoid an element of double taxation e.g.  district councils  with parished and non-parished areas.

Neither of  these circumstances feels particularly relevant to public libraries. It is clear  who is responsible for public libraries (PLMA 1964) and the cost of providing a  library branch is relatively easy to determine so any delegated funding should  be clear too.

Also the  paying twice issue for libraries is not just between Councils but more between  communities and residents generally i.e. it is inequitable to require resident  donations or discretionary top up grants from Parish/Town Councils to maintain  the local statutory public library service when in other places within the  library authority’s area they are not required. The principle of funding a  public service is not divisible. If this principle were to be divisible then  watch out for the stampede of Councils saying yes we provide that public service  but funding it is somebody else’s responsibility. “

• Community management of library services: legal issues – Community Knowledge Hub.
• Decision letters on local inquiries 2013 – for example Lewisham – where the Government notes that the council “views these libraries, and the support it gives to them, as part of its statutory services and provision”.
• Community Libraries Research 2013 Guiding Principles – Arts Council England.
• Community Managed Libraries – MLA.