The proposed fee for a new licence authorising trade or possession of non-civilian prohibited firearms is set out – together with revised licence fees for shooting clubs and museums with firearm collections (which could include prohibited firearms) – in the first of three joint Home Office and Scottish Government consultations implementing the firearm provisions in ‘Policing and Crime Bill 2015-16 to 2016-17’.

There are currently no powers to charge licence fees for prohibited firearms, while museum and shooting club licences are subject to fees that were last reviewed in 1995 and do not cover the cost of the service.

The present cost to the taxpayer of firearms licences administered by the Government is estimated at around £700,000 per year. The proposals in ‘Firearms licensing fees’ aim to recover this cost in full.

Responses are required by 9 March and it is anticipated the new fees will come into force later this year.