March 2022 we surveyed our members and had 61 responses (that is just over a third of the 176 library services in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Crown Dependencies). We found that:

The majority of library services are still charging people for returning items after the due date. Only 16 of the 61 told us they had removed library fines, with 8 of these having done so in the past 2 years.
Around 33% of library services told us they were considering removing library fines and another 40% said they may consider it.
18% of library services that had removed fines had seen an increase in membership and 13% had seen in an increase in overall loans. However the majority had seen no change or were unsure as the service restrictions brought about by COVID-19 had made it very difficult to measure the impact.
40% of libraries that had removed library fines had seen an increase in adults using the library, 30% had seen an increase in families and people from disadvantaged areas, and 20% had seen an increase in 5 – 16-year-olds.

The main barriers they identified to removing library fines were:

Loss of income, which couldn’t be easily offset by savings or new funding streams.
Customers not returning or not renewing books causing stock circulation problems and a reduction in issues for new books.
Difficulty in justifying removing fines when the council had a funding gap and services were being reduced.
A lack of evidence showing the benefits making it hard to argue the case.
The impact on community managed libraries who rely on the income they get from overdue charges.

The perceived benefits to removing library fines were:

Removal of the stigma of overdue books.
Helping to tackle the poverty agenda.
Incrasing library use (particularly by people from deprived areas and those with lower incomes).
Recovering the physical library offer post pandemic.
Encouraging lapsed users to return to the library.
Reducing conflict arising from fines that frontline staff had to manage.
Reducing costs with the possibility of a cashless system.
Bringing the physical offer in line with the digital. There are no fines on e-content so people without digital access or skills are fined while those with access and skills aren’t.
Providing a good news story.--