Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether income from increases in firearms licensing fees will be used by police forces to fully recover the costs of administering those licences.

On 5 February 2025, increased fees came into effect to provide full-cost recovery for firearms licensing applications processed by police forces. This gave effect to a commitment in the Government’s manifesto.

The fees were previously increased in 2015 and they no longer met the cost of the service provided. It is essential for both public safety and police efficiency that the fees provide full-cost recovery so that service improvements can be made. The need to increase firearms licensing fees to help address shortcomings in firearms licensing was highlighted by the Senior Coroner in his Preventing Future Deaths reports into the fatal shootings in Plymouth in August 2021.

I have written to all Police and Crime Commissioners and Chief Constables to make clear that the income from increased fees must be invested into their firearms licensing operations, in the interests of both public safety and to support improvements in the service provided by their firearms licensing teams.