The directors present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2026.

The principal activity of the company is the issuing of licences for educational use of copyright works and performances to educational bodies in return for licence fees which, after deduction of expenses, are distributable to members.

The use of broadcast materials in class by teachers and lecturers is a powerful tool for enhancing teaching and learning at all levels of education from primary to tertiary. Television and radio content provides a highly effective means of explaining and illustrating complex facts and concepts, engaging interest and stimulating debate amongst students of all ages and in all areas of study, both academic and vocational.

ERA’s primary strategic objective is to maximise the value that licensees derive from the ERA Licence by providing educators with both the knowledge and means to exploit the powerful pedagogical benefits that can be derived from integrating broadcast resources into wider teaching and learning.

The principal way in which it does so is by improving ease of access to the widest possible ERA Repertoire by ERA Licensees. Historically, ERA has given its approval to third parties to make broadcast recordings available through digital platforms to licensed educational institutions under the terms permitted under section 35 and paragraph 6 Schedule 2 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 It continues to welcome approaches from reputable organisations serving the legitimate needs of educational institutions in the UK to enter into similar third-party arrangements. However, in recent years it has also developed a growing collection of online services designed to help staff and students of licensed institutions to identify and access recordings of carefully curated broadcast content to support and enhance teaching and learning.

ERA’s online educational resources are all free and hence support the aim of reducing the cost and ease of access to ERA Repertoire.

The primary services currently available from ERA include a Video Streaming Platform, the BBC Shakespeare Archive Resource, the BBC Literary Archive and the Natural Curriculum, all of which have attracted a large and growing number of users across the UK.

ERA works with a broad range of key educational organisations to improve awareness of and access to the digital services it has created for its licensees and to ensure these services are best able to meet the needs of the specific communities they serve. Our partners include awarding bodies, subject associations, multi-academy trusts, universities and educational charities.

ERA takes it responsibilities to the education sector in the UK extremely seriously and will continue to ensure that the ERA licence helps facilitate improvements in teaching and learning throughout the country.

Membership

The number of members represented during the year was 21 (2025: 21) ERA Licences do not include anyExtended Collective Licensing Scheme.

The loss for the year, after taxation, amounted to £315 (2025 - loss £222).

The directors who held office during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were as follows:

The auditor, BKL Audit LLP, is deemed to be reappointed under section 487(2) of the Companies Act 2006.

The directors are responsible for preparing the annual report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

Company law requires the directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law the directors have elected to prepare the financial statements in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law). Under company law, the directors must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company and of the surplus or deficit of the company for that period.

In preparing these audited financial statements, the Directors are required to:

• select suitable accounting policies for the Company's financial statements and then apply them consistently;

• make judgments and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

• state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;

• prepare the audited financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presum that the Company will continue in business.

The directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the company’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

So far as each person who was a director at the date of approving this report is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the company’s auditor is unaware. Additionally, the directors individually have taken all the necessary steps that they ought to have taken as directors in order to make themselves aware of all relevant audit information and to establish that the company’s auditor is aware of that information.

ERA is a private company limited by guarantee and has no share capital. ERA owns one dormant subsidiary company, Educational Resource Agency Limited.

ERA operates, on a not‑for‑profit basis, as a collective management organisation for the purposes of The Collective Management of Copyright (EU Directive) Regulations 2016 (“the CMO Regulations”).

Each Member of ERA is entitled to nominate one representative who, subject to election by the Members of ERA, is then invited be a non‑executive Director of ERA.

Each non‑executive Director of ERA also forms part of the supervisory function of ERA for the purposes of compliance with the Regulations.

Procedures for the appointment of Directors are set out in the Articles of Association of ERA. Directors may appoint alternatives to attend Board meetings in their absence.

Share capital and distribution

All licences issued during the year ended 31 March 2026 were in the form of the current ERA Licence and the categories and types of rights represented by ERA on behalf of its Members is set out within the terms and conditions of the ERA Licence.

As at 1 April 2025 ERA held £2,566,664 as licence fees collected from educational establishments of Further and Higher education and additional licensees such as language schools, whose licences ran from 1 August 2024 to 31 July 2025. These sums related to licence fees relevant for the period from 1 April 2025 and fell due for distribution in the financial year commencing 1 April 2025. An additional amount of £845,733 was undistributed at 1 April 2025 meaning the total amount held by ERA on behalf of its members was £3,412,397 at this date.

As at 1 April 2026 ERA held £2,560,384 as licence fees collected from educational establishments of Further and Higher education and additional licensees such as language schools, whose licences run from 1 August 2025 to 31 July 2026. These sums relate to licence fees relevant from the period 1 April 2026 and fall due for distribution in the financial year commencing 1 April 2026. An additional amount of £640,252 was undistributed as at 31 March 2026 meaning the total amount held by ERA on behalf of its members was £3,201,869 at this date.

The total revenue from the current ERA Licence during the year ended 31 March 2026 was £14,813,016 (2025: £14,648,405).

No sums were held by ERA as non distributable amounts.

The total costs incurred in administering licences during the year were £793,570 (2025: £751,105).

No remuneration was paid to directors during the year. Details of payments made for insurance to cover its Directors and Officers against liabilities can be found in Note 6 to the accounts.

ERA members have approved the Distribution Policy applied by ERA for the purposes of proposing and (subject to required approvals) making distributions to ERA members.

The company seeks approval from the members for distribution of earned licence fees under the ERA Licensing Scheme.

The approved Distribution Policy is published on the ERA website at https://era.org.uk

Four distributions were made to ERA Members during the year ended 31 March 2026.

The total sums distributed were:

£3,600,000 on 30 June 2025

£3,600,000 on 31 October 2025

£3,600,000 on 31 December 2025

£3,700,000 on 31 March 2026

The total amount distributed to right holders during the year was £14,500,000 (2025: £14,150,000).

Code of Conduct

The Company has adopted and published a Code of Conduct relating to its operations.

The Code of Conduct has been made available to the Members and is posted on the company website at https://era.org.uk.

Reserves

In accordance with the company Policy on Deductions approved by ERA Members, the Directors have agreed that it is prudent for a provision of around £30,000 to be held by the Company as unrestricted reserves to meet the obligations of the Company.

This report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies entitled to the small companies exemption.

We have audited the financial statements of The Educational Recording Agency Limited (the 'company') for the year ended 31 March 2026 which comprise the statement of income and retained earnings, the balance sheet and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

• give a true and fair view of the state of the company's affairs as at 31 March 2026 and of its deficit for the year then ended;

• have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and

• have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the directors' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the company's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the directors with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The other information comprises the information included in the annual report other than the financial statements and our auditor's report thereon. The directors are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of our audit:

• the information given in the directors' report for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and

• the directors' report has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the directors' report. We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

• adequate accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or

• the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or

• certain disclosures of directors' remuneration specified by law are not made; or

• we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit; or

• the directors were not entitled to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the small companies regime and take advantage of the small companies' exemption in preparing the directors' report and from the requirement to prepare a strategic report.

As explained more fully in the directors' responsibilities statement, the directors are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the directors determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. In preparing the financial statements, the directors are responsible for assessing the company's ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the directors either intend to liquidate the company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor's report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Based on our understanding of the company and industry, we identified that the principle risks of non-compliance with laws and regulations related to the failure to comply with tax regulations, health and safety regulations and anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws, and we considered the extent to which non-compliance might have a material effect on the financial statements. We also considered those laws and regulations that have a direct impact on the preparation of the financial statements such as the Companies Act 2006. We evaluated management's incentives and opportunities for fraudulent manipulation of the financial statements (including the risk of override of controls), and determined that the principal risks were related to posting inappropriate journal entries and management bias in accounting estimates. Audit procedures performed by the auditors included:

• Discussions with the director, including consideration of known or suspected instances of non‑compliance with laws and regulations and fraud;

• Assessing management’s significant judgements and estimates in particular those relating to bad debt provisions; and

• Identifying and testing manual journal entries, in particular any journal entries posted with unclear rationale.

There are inherent limitations in the audit procedures described above, and the further removed non‑compliance with laws and regulations is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely we would become aware of it. Also, the risk of not detecting a material misstatement due to fraud is higher than the risk of not detecting one resulting from error, as fraud may involve deliberate concealment by, for example, forgery or intentional misrepresentations, or through collusion.

A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: https://www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor's report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the company's members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor's report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the company and the company's members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

The income and expenditure account has been prepared on the basis that all operations are continuing operations.

The notes on pages 10 to 15 form part of these financial statements.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime and in accordance with the provisions of FRS 102 Section 1A - small entities.

The principal activity of the Company is the issuing of licences for educational use of copyright works and performances to educational bodies in return for licence fees which, after deduction of expenses, are distributable to members.

The Company's registered office is Scott House Suite 1, The Concourse, Waterloo Station, London, England, SE1 7LY.

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (“FRS 102”) and the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the company. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.

The Directors have assessed whether the Company has adequate resources to meet its obligationstrue as they fall due and beyond the 12 months from the date of the approval of these financial statements. The Directors have reviewed their forecasts and cash flow requirements for this period.

Given the comparison of the levels of licence fee income that the ERA Licence generates to the relatively small cost base that the Company requires to operate, the Directors are confident that the Company has sufficient working capital available to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future.

The Directors believe the going concern basis of accounting is appropriate for these annual financial statements.

Income and expenses are included in the financial statements as they become receivable or due.

Expenses include VAT where applicable as the company cannot reclaim it.

Tangible fixed assets under the cost model are stated at historical cost less accumulated depreciation and any accumulated impairment losses. Historical cost includes expenditure that is directly attributable to bringing the asset to the location and condition necessary for it to be capable of operating in the manner intended by management.

Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:

The assets' residual values, useful lives and depreciation methods are reviewed, and adjusted prospectively if appropriate, or if there is an indication of a significant change since the last reporting date.

Gains and losses on disposals are determined by comparing the proceeds with the carrying amount and are recognised in the Statement of Income and Retained Earnings.

Investments in subsidiaries are measured at cost less accumulated impairment.

Cash and cash equivalents are basic financial assets and include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.

The company has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.

Financial instruments are recognised in the company's balance sheet when the company becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.

Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.

Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.

Financial liabilities and equity instruments are classified according to the substance of the contractual arrangements entered into. An equity instrument is any contract that evidences a residual interest in the assets of the company after deducting all of its liabilities.

Basic financial liabilities, including creditors, bank loans, loans from fellow group companies and preference shares that are classified as debt, are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.

Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.

Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of business from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

The tax currently payable is based on taxable profit for the year. Taxable profit differs from net profit as reported in the profit and loss account because it excludes items of income or expense that are taxable or deductible in other years and it further excludes items that are never taxable or deductible. The company’s liability for current tax is calculated using tax rates that have been enacted or substantively enacted by the reporting end date.

Deferred tax liabilities are generally recognised for all timing differences and deferred tax assets are recognised to the extent that it is probable that they will be recovered against the reversal of deferred tax liabilities or other future taxable profits. Such assets and liabilities are not recognised if the timing difference arises from goodwill or from the initial recognition of other assets and liabilities in a transaction that affects neither the tax profit nor the accounting profit.

The carrying amount of deferred tax assets is reviewed at each reporting end date and reduced to the extent that it is no longer probable that sufficient taxable profits will be available to allow all or part of the asset to be recovered. Deferred tax is calculated at the tax rates that are expected to apply in the period when the liability is settled or the asset is realised. Deferred tax is charged or credited in the profit and loss account, except when it relates to items charged or credited directly to equity, in which case the deferred tax is also dealt with in equity. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are offset when the company has a legally enforceable right to offset current tax assets and liabilities and the deferred tax assets and liabilities relate to taxes levied by the same tax authority.

The Company operates a defined contribution plan for its employees. A defined contribution plan is a pension plan under which the Company pays fixed contributions into a separate entity. Once the contributions have been paid the Company has no further payment obligations.

The contributions are recognised as an expense in the Statement of Income and Retained Earnings when they fall due. Amounts not paid are shown in accruals as a liability in the Balance Sheet. The assets of the plan are held separately from the Company in independently administered funds.

Rentals payable under operating leases, including any lease incentives received, are charged to profit or loss on a straight line basis over the term of the relevant lease except where another more systematic basis is more representative of the time pattern in which economic benefits from the leases asset are consumed.

Interest income

Interest income is recognised in the Statement of Income and Retained Earnings using the effective interest method.

The emoluments disclosed above represent the payment by the Company of insurance to cover its Directors and Officers against liabilities in relation to their duties to the Company.

Details of the company's subsidiaries at 31 March 2026 are as follows:

The subsidiary has been dormant since incorporation and its registered office is Scott House Suite 1, The Concourse, Waterloo Station, London, England, SE1 7LY.

Under the provision of section 98 of the Companies Act 2006, the Company is exempt from preparing consolidated accounts and has not done so, therefore the accounts show information about the Company as an individual entity.

The following are the major deferred tax liabilities and assets recognised by the company and movements thereon:

The company is limited by guarantee, not having a share capital and consequently the liability of members is limited, subject to an undertaking by each member to contribute to the net assets or liabilities of the company on winding up such amounts as may be required not exceeding £1.

At 31 March 2026 the Company had future minimum lease payments due under non-cancellable

operating leases for each of the following periods:

No transactions with related parties were undertaken such as are required to be disclosed under FRS 102.