Adults and adult literacy
We all like stories and most of us like to read. We found that adults in Britain read books for 4.6 hours every week - that's 39 minutes a day. And we are influenced by what our friends and colleagues are reading. One in five adults read books recommended to them, one in six recommend books to others and one in seven discusses the books they are reading.* No surprise then that the number of reading groups has exploded.
But we also know that not all adults find reading easy or enjoy it and there are approximately 12 million people in the UK who find reading a struggle.
We are an independent charity that encourages more adults to read more. We strive to be the organisation that people turn to to engage with adults and encourage them to participate through reading and literacy.
This section has information about the reading programmes and tools we provide as well as the reading promotions that we run in partnership with other organisations. Our reading tools and promotions are available to purchase through our Shop
*Source: The Reading Agency and BML survey Book Reading and Library use, 2005