Fees will be introduced on specialist firearms licences for the
first time to reduce costs for UK taxpayers.
The new fees will apply to Section 5 firearms, a category which
includes the most dangerous types of guns, such a military grade
weapons, in England, Wales and Scotland and are being introduced
following a Home Office consultation.
Current licence holders include organisations such as
manufacturers or dealers supplying the police or the army, and
individuals such as gunsmiths carrying out the deactivation of
prohibited weapons.
As part of the consultation, the Home Office also reviewed
licences for shooting clubs and museums to possess firearms. As a
result, fees for museums will be frozen because of the benefit
that they provide to the public, while fees for shooting clubs
will increase.
Fees are already payable for certificates to possess civilian
firearms, such as rifles for target shooting or shotguns,
commonly used for pest control.
Nearly 5,000 people responded to the consultation, which ran from
January to March 2017. Full summary of
responses.
The fees being introduced will be significantly lower than those
proposed in the consultation document. However, they will still
allow the Home Office and the devolved administration in Scotland
to recover the direct cost of administering licence applications,
removing the burden from taxpayers and placing it on those
benefitting from firearms licences.
|
Licence type
|
Fee
|
|
Museum first time
|
£200
|
|
Museum renewal
|
£200
|
|
Museum variation A
|
£110
|
|
Museum variation C
|
£36
|
|
Club first time
|
£444
|
|
Club renewal
|
£372
|
|
Club variation A
|
£300
|
|
Club variation B
|
£206
|
|
Club variation C
|
£36
|
|
Dealer first time
|
£796*
|
|
Dealer renewal
|
£747*
|
|
Dealer variation A
|
£425
|
|
Dealer variation B
|
£206
|
|
Dealer variation C
|
£36
|
|
Carrier first time
|
£569
|
|
Carrier renewal
|
£540
|
|
Carrier variation A
|
£361
|
|
Carrier variation B
|
£206
|
|
Carrier variation C
|
£36
|
|
PMSC first time
|
£616
|
|
PMSC renewal
|
£565
|
|
PMSC variation A
|
£361
|
|
PMSC variation B
|
£206
|
|
PMSC variation C
|
£49
|
|
PMSC variation D
|
£316
|
|
Additional Guard
|
£48
|
|
DSEI
|
£389
|
|
Olympic shooter
|
£206
|
|
Trophy of War
|
£206
|
**See paragraph 20 in the full consultation
response.
