Firearms licensing fees to rise again from 4 June

New fees from June

Firearms and shotgun certificate holders across England, Scotland and Wales will pay more to obtain or renew their licences from 4 June, following the publication of a Home Office circular setting out new fees.

The circular, published on 14 May, outlines a 3% increase across all licensing functions administered by police forces. A grant of a firearms certificate will rise to £204 and renewal to £135. A shotgun certificate grant will cost £200, with renewals at £130. Those holding both will pay £208 for coterminous grant or £160 for coterminous renewal.

Registration as a firearms dealer, whether by grant or renewal, rises to £480. Replacement certificates for lost or destroyed documents will cost £9 and a variation of a firearms certificate £48. Visitors’ permits increase to £240 for groups and £48 for individuals.

Applications received by police forces on or before 3 June will be processed at the current rates. While that may sound like a reason to apply early, the Home Office has advised against it, warning that forces may return applications submitted outside the usual timescale and request payment at the higher rate. The National Police Chiefs’ Council has advised that most forces accept renewals up to four months before expiry.

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BASC criticises “tax on shooting”

BASC has described the increase as a tax on shooting. Director of firearms Bill Harriman said: “Fees rose by an eye-watering 133% in February last year and this further inflationary increase is being imposed without any guarantee that the chaos and failure which characterises so much of the police administration of firearms licensing will be addressed.

“The increase has been justified by the Government in terms of full cost recovery for the police; but without any standardisation of procedures, this amounts to a tax on shooting. There is no guarantee that the additional money will be ring-fenced for firearms licensing, allowing chief officers to do what they please with it. The shooting community is subsidising police budgets without any proper service level agreement.”

The latest National Police Chiefs’ Council performance figures for England and Wales, released earlier this month and covered in last week’s news pages, show fewer than half of the 43 forces meeting the requirement to turn around 80% of applications within 120 days. Among the 23 lowest-performing forces, 11 are completing fewer than 40% of applications within that timeframe, with some managing little more than a quarter.

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Calls for reform continue

The Countryside Alliance took a more measured position. Roger Seddon, the organisation’s shooting campaign manager, said: “Incremental fee increases are something that the Countryside Alliance has long called for, as they avoid severe fee hikes like those we saw last year. Many licence holders may baulk at further increases to the firearms licensing fee structure, as the dire performance of many police licensing departments persists even after the huge fee increases last year. Despite the funding increase, waiting times in several parts of the country remain in the years, not months, let alone weeks.”

Mr Seddon added that the Alliance continued to campaign for the centralisation of police licensing departments as the route to consistent, effective and efficient service across England and Wales.

The NGO was similarly cautious, welcoming the incremental approach but warning that any future rises must be matched by demonstrable improvements in service standards and turnaround times. The view was echoed by certificate holders on social media. “If they were efficient on renewals it wouldn’t be so bad, but prices go up and service gets worse,” wrote one. Another agreed: “Wouldn’t mind if it sorted the timescales out across forces but it hasn’t and won’t.” A third took a different view: “I still think that prices are very reasonable if you’re that passionate about your shooting.”