The Reading Agency’s ‘The State of the Nation’s Adult Reading: 2024 Report’ makes for alarming reading. According to this report, only half the population of the UK (50%) now reads regularly, down from 58% in 2015. The picture is worse for young readers aged 16-24: a quarter (25%) have never been regular readers, and nearly half (44%) are ‘lapsed readers’. That reading for pleasure can involve audiobooks, blogs, graphic novels magazines, and more – not just books – makes these numbers even more shocking.

Reading for pleasure has innumerable personal benefits: it helps every aspect of education, improving basic cognition, but also helps develop and nurture curiosity, empathy and imagination. Regular readers report higher levels of self-esteem and a greater ability to cope in difficult situations later in life, as well as greater life satisfaction. In material terms, the median hourly wage of workers with the highest levels of literacy is 94% higher than for workers who have the lowest levels of literacy.

What can government do?

With a new Labour government, we are watching closely for their strategy to promote reading for pleasure. This should be a key priority, as research has shown that poor levels of literacy could cost the UK economy £850m over the lifetimes of each year group of five year olds.  

In particular, the government must increase and ring-fence funding for councils to spend on library services. Libraries have been decimated by cuts under successive Conservative governments, but for many, they represent the only access to literature outside of school. Good school libraries are also in decline across the country: in 2023, Great School Libraries reported that 65% of primary schools do not have a designated library budget, and that the proportion of secondary schools with a library on site had dropped from 96% in 2019, to 86%. School libraries and librarians must be properly funded, with a national strategy that recognises their importance to children’s education and wellbeing.

Proper funding for UK arts and culture is also vital. English councils have almost halved per-person spending on culture since 2010, which has in turn heavily impacted access to literature. Labour’s pledge to ‘make the creative industries […] a key driver of economic growth’ is a promising sign and we will be watching closely to see that it is delivered.

What’s being done?

There are plenty of other brilliant organisations focusing on improving literacy across the UK. BookTrust are the UK’s largest reading charity, with a mission to get children from low-income and vulnerable family backgrounds reading for pleasure.

CILIP are guided by their Royal Charter to develop and improve library and information services. They advocate for the profession through campaigns, projects, awards and political engagement.

Empathy Lab are the first organisation to build children’s empathy and social activism through a systematic use of high-quality literature. By 2026, they aim to benefit one million children, helping them learn more about empathy and develop their empathy skills.

Other organisations

• National Literacy Trust
• The Reading Agency
• School Library Association
• World Book Day
• LoveReading

What can you do?

• Promote the Reading Agency’s campaign by sharing the report far and wide
• Encourage others to pick up a book by posting on X or Instagram with the Reading Agency’s hashtag, #RebootReading
• Consider nominating a school for a Reading for Pleasure Award to celebrate their exceptional work encouraging children to love reading. SoA members can nominate up to three schools a year for a Reading for Pleasure Award. The deadline for nominations for 2023/24 awards is 13 August.

Children’s Writer’s and Illustrators Group (CWIG) chair, Abie Longstaff, said:

Reading for pleasure can be the defining habit of a person’s life, and it is vital that we do all we can to encourage it in childhood, when the strongest habits are formed. Government has a key part to play in this, and we will be watching closely that Labour delivers on their promise of reviving the UK’s cultural and creative sectors after over a decade of cuts. But we can all do our bit – whether it’s encouraging those around us to pick up a book or using our platform as authors to raise awareness.