Firearms Licensing Fee Increase

Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request ref: 01/FOI/25/007754/E

Version Date: 06/05/2025

The Firearms Licensing Department have provided the following information.

Will your police force/constabulary be ring-fencing the extra income from the latest firearms licensing fee increase to the firearms licensing functions?

Any additional income received does go towards the running costs of providing the firearms licensing function in Devon and Cornwall Police. However, the income from fees for firearms licensing, even after the recent uplift in fees introduced in February 2025 by the government, only covers 43% of the full costs of providing the function (excluding police officer costs) and the balance is met from the wider police budget.

What improvements will you be making to streamline the system and reduce delays in grant and renewal?

Devon & Cornwall Police has used fee increase income to further invest in additional Robotic Process Automation within FELU processes which will provide additional efficiency.

Will you be looking to recruit additional staff and if so how many and in what function?

The Force already provides additional staff to its Firearms and Explosives Licensing function through the secondment of approximately 15 Police Officers. In addition, for 2025/26, it will ‘pre-recruit’ 9 Police Staff posts across roles such as Firearms Enquiry Officers and Senior Administrator roles to mitigate against future known vacancies in the coming year – a year in which we see increased renewals and thus will assist meeting customer need. The funding for this will again come direct from the fee increase.