The Home Office published on 15 January 2025 its new fee structure for firearms licensing. Only two days previously, on 13 January, the Minister of Policing, Dame Diana Johnson MP, had met with members of the British Shooting Sports Council, the body which brings together Britain’s major shooting associations to achieve consensus positions on political and legislative issues affecting the shooting. During that meeting, she made no mention of the imminent publication of the new fees, instead saying that she would like to work together but would not be drawn at that time on projected timescales or costs. The increases vary between 111% and 157% increases on the current fee structure – far beyond compound inflation since 2014, when the fee structure was last updated.
Without adequate stakeholder or public consultation or engagement, this edict comes off the back of the Labour Party’s 2024 general election manifesto. This order also comes without mention of service level improvement, without disclosure of costing calculation, without acknowledgement of skyrocketing mandated medical proforma costs for licensees, and without mention of the lengthening of licence period from five to ten years – made possible by new medical markers.
The new fee structure, which comes into effect on 5 February 2025 is broken down in this table:
|
Licence type |
Current Fee |
New "Full Cost Recovery" Fee |
% increase |
|
Firearms Certificate Grant |
£88 |
£198 |
125% |
|
Firearms Certificate Renewal |
£62 |
£131 |
111% |
|
Shotgun Certificate Grant |
£79.5 |
£194 |
144% |
|
Shotgun Certificate Renewal |
£49 |
£126 |
157% |
|
Coterminous grant of firearm and shotgun certificates |
£90 |
£202 |
124% |
|
Coterminous renewal of firearm and shotgun certificates |
£65 |
£155 |
138% |
|
Registration as a firearms dealer: grant |
£200 |
£466 |
133% |
|
Registration as a firearms dealer: renewal |
£200 |
£466 |
133% |
|
Registration as a firearms dealer: game fair etc |
£13 |
£30 |
131% |
|
Replacement of lost or destroyed firearms certificate |
£4 |
£9 |
125% |
|
Replacement of lost or destroyed shotgun certificate |
£4 |
£9 |
125% |
|
Variation of firearm certificate (not like for like) |
£20 |
£47 |
135% |
|
Grant of visitors permit: group |
£100 |
£233 |
133% |
|
Grant of visitors permit: individual |
£20 |
£47 |
135% |
Tim Bonner, Chief Executive of the Countryside Alliance said:
“Up to 157% increases in the cost of shotgun and firearms certificates is going to have a significant financial impact on the many in the countryside. We have consistently argued that if the government wants to recover the cost of firearms licensing that must be for an efficient system that delivers for users and the public. That is a million miles from the current firearms licensing system which could hardly be designed to be more inefficient with 43 separate licensing authorities some of which are providing appalling service.”
With the new “full cost recovery” fee structure coming into effect from 5 February 2025, for any licence application received by the police and paid for on or before 4 February 2025, the original fee paid will be honoured.
The Home Office has advised that usual timescales for licence renewals should be followed and that “extra early” renewal applications should be avoided and may be returned by police who will ask for the new fee to be paid. The National Police Chiefs’ Council advise that most forces accept renewals up to four months before the expiry date.