Third of forces failing firearms licensing targets 

Licensing failures continue across England and Wales

The list of failures plaguing firearms licensing departments shows no sign of ending, with the latest quarterly National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) data revealing that 30 of England and Wales’s 43 forces have missed their four-month processing target.

Only 13 forces have handled applications within the target timeframe, despite applicants submitting paperwork eight weeks early and benefiting from an automatic eight-week extension. Ten forces processed less than a third of applications on time, increasingly relying on temporary permits to paper over the cracks.

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Impact on applicants and rural businesses

Martin Parker, BASC’s head of firearms, said the ongoing dysfunction has created a two-tier system where renewals are prioritised at the expense of new applicants. “Grant applications are now routinely taking one to two years,” he said. “BASC is seeing this more and more, and the impact on rural businesses, employment and participation in shooting sports is significant.”

The association highlighted that shooters are paying 133% more in fees on average for a deteriorating service. From February last year, shotgun certificate grants rose from £79.50 to £194, whilst renewals for both shotgun and firearm certificates increased from £49 to £126. Mr Parker said the situation is “utterly unacceptable”.

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Root causes identified

The figures reinforce BASC’s licensing report from July last year, which identified poor resourcing, inefficient processes and weak management as endemic problems. Yet the latest data from the NPCC also exposes an uncomfortable reality for forces claiming they lack resources: some departments are managing perfectly well.

Licence applicants in Lincolnshire, Cheshire or Derbyshire stand the best chance of a smooth process, with applications processed within four months more than 85% of the time and few or no temporary permits issued. For those in Cambridgeshire, Humberside or Hertfordshire, the experience is vastly different. Cambridgeshire issued 652 temporary permits in the quarter, Humberside 433 and Hertfordshire 397 – clear evidence of departments buckling under pressure.

The three forces in the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire collaboration that His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services recently condemned issued over 1,000 temporary permits between them. Other forces managed with none at all.

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Lessons from Scotland

Police Scotland, operating as a single national unit, outperforms every English and Welsh force. “That underlines a simple truth: efficient systems and good leadership matter just as much as resources,” Mr Parker said. “The time has come for England and Wales to follow suit and establish a single licensing authority.”

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Government proposals miss the point

Yet the Home Office is looking in another direction. Ministers are expected to launch a consultation imminently on merging sections 1 and 2 of the Firearms Act – aligning rifle and shotgun licensing regimes. Whilst the Government claims this would improve public safety, shooting organisations argue it fundamentally misses the point. The real problem isn’t the structure of the law, they say, but the broken system tasked with administering it.