New medical conditions added to firearm and shotgun certificates

The Firearms (Amendment) Rules 2026 add two new medical reporting conditions to firearm and shotgun certificates in England, Wales and Scotland. Published on 24 September, they come into force on Tuesday 29 September. The instrument also replaces the application form and both certificate forms, with applications on the old form accepted only until 29 October.

What must certificate holders now report?

The new conditions are inserted into the Firearms Rules 1998 and will appear on certificates granted or renewed from Tuesday. They are conditions of the certificate rather than medical conditions in themselves: each places a reporting duty on the holder, and both apply to what the rules call a “relevant medical condition”. That means a condition listed in the medical information section of the new application form.

Under the first condition, the holder must tell the chief officer of police who granted the certificate, “without undue delay”, if they are diagnosed with or treated for a relevant medical condition. The same duty applies if the symptoms of a condition they have already disclosed have worsened since the certificate was granted.

The second condition goes further. A holder who consults any medical practitioner about a relevant medical condition, other than their own GP or a GP from the same practice, must inform the police and give the practitioner’s contact details and details of the treatment received. A private consultation or a visit to a specialist about a relevant condition therefore now has to be reported. 

In practice, medical oversight no longer ends with the checks made at grant. Between renewals, the responsibility for keeping the licensing department informed sits with the holder. Failing to comply with a certificate condition is a criminal offence under the Firearms Act 1968, triable in the magistrates’ court, and puts the certificate itself at risk.

Alongside the conditions, the instrument substitutes a new application form for grants and renewals and new firearm and shotgun certificate forms. Under a transitional rule, an application on the old form will be accepted only if the relevant force receives it on or before 29 October 2026. After that date, only the new form will do.

The rules were signed by Home Office minister Sarah Jones on 23 September and published the following day, five days before they take effect. No press release accompanied them, and the explanatory note records that no full impact assessment was produced because “no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen”.

The change lands days after the Home Office published an updated edition of its statutory guidance to police on firearms licensing, on 17 September. None of the shooting organisations had commented publicly on the new rules when this story was filed, and member guidance is likely to follow before the forms change over.

Holders unsure whether a condition counts as relevant should check the medical information section of the new application form or ask the licensing team at their issuing force.