Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what procedures are in place financially to compensate certificate holders who are obliged to lodge their firearms with a registered firearms dealer due to a late renewal of their certificate.

Under the Firearms Act 1968, firearm and shotgun certificate administration is a matter for the chief officer of police for the area in which the applicant lives. The time taken to process a firearm or shotgun application can vary between forces as the respective chief officer must take into account the need to manage risk and ensure public protection in their respective force area.

Whilst Section 7 of the Firearms Act 1968, allows the police to issue a temporary permit for the continued possession of firearms and ammunition, the use of this power was not used consistently by police forces. The Government has therefore taken steps to assist forces with the administration of the firearms licensing system through changes made under the Policing and Crime Act 2017. Section 131 of the Policing and Crime Act 2017 automatically extends the validity of firearm and shotgun certificates past their expiry date for a limited period of up to eight weeks where a timely application for renewal has been made prior to the expiry of the certificate. This will give police the extra time needed to complete outstanding checks without this impacting on a licence holder’s activities through the expiry of the certificate prior to renewal. This provision will be implemented later this year.

Any requests for compensation by licence holders whilst their renewal applications are being considered is a matter for them to raise with the police.

We do not collect data centrally on the performance of individual forces in respect of firearms licensing.