The finding that firearms licensing in England and Wales “isn’t fit for purpose” is now the Chief Inspector of Constabulary’s formal assessment of the policing year, laid before the Home Secretary. Michelle Skeer’s State of Policing report, published on 8 September, is her statutory report under section 54(4) of the Police Act 1996, and it carries the conclusions of the inspectorate’s thematic licensing inspection of 28 August into the record the Government must answer. For the trade, three of its lines matter most: the call for a national authority, the call for enforceable rules in place of guidance, and the confirmation that the licensing database is already being replaced.

What does the statutory report say about licensing?

The 56-page assessment gives licensing its own section, headed “The legal framework and governance arrangements for firearms licensing need a complete overhaul”. It says the system “should be clear, consistent and robust” and that the 2026 inspection “found that the system was none of those things”. Policing “hadn’t adequately addressed” the recommendations of the inspectorate’s 2015 inspection, and the legislation itself “needed major changes”: the original Acts were “developed in a very different social and policing environment” and successive amendments have made the framework “increasingly complex over time”, so that “forces across England and Wales interpret and apply the law differently”.

The statutory guidance introduced in 2025 has brought “some improvements”, the report says, “but the guidance isn’t clear enough”, producing “different interpretations and variation instead of firm and enforceable rules”. The inspectorate repeats its recommendation that “clear, legally enforceable rules for firearms licensing should be introduced”.

What would a national licensing authority mean for registered dealers?

The report restates the inspectorate’s central recommendation: “Because of the scale of the problems we found, we recommended that the government removed responsibility for firearms licensing from chief constables and placed it with a new national firearms licensing authority for England and Wales.” The authority would take over applications, renewals and ongoing monitoring from the 38 firearms and explosives licensing units the forces run, with central control over decision-making, risk management, training, governance and performance.

For a registered firearms dealer the arithmetic is simple. Every sale of a Section 1 firearm or a shotgun waits on a certificate or a variation, and every delay in a licensing unit is a sale that cannot complete, a deposit held and, increasingly, a gun sitting in dealer storage for a customer whose renewal has not come back. Dealer registration itself, under sections 33 to 35 of the Firearms Act 1968, is decided by the same units under the same variable reading of the law. One authority would mean one standard for certificate processing, one contact for the trade’s queries and one performance measure, instead of 38.

It is a long road. Bill Harriman, BASC’s director of firearms, said when the thematic report landed that it “should settle any remaining argument about the direction of travel of firearms licensing in England and Wales”, while warning that a new authority “will take years to deliver and will only succeed if the new authority is properly resourced and staffed with well-trained, specialist personnel from day one”. The National Gamekeepers’ Organisation, which gave evidence to the inspection, said the report carried through would be “the biggest shakeup of firearms legislation and licensing since 1968”.

Where does the Section 2 recommendation stand?

The August inspection recommended aligning Section 2 shotgun certificates with Section 1, which BASC rejected while welcoming the single authority. The annual assessment does not revisit that recommendation; its licensing section is about the legal framework, the guidance and the governance of the system. The Home Office has so far said only that it will consult “in due course” on the shotgun recommendation, in a written answer of 8 September, and has given no timetable for a response to the wider package of 23 recommendations. For the trade that means the shape of the shotgun market, and of the first-gun sale in particular, stays undecided for the foreseeable future.

What about the three-force collaboration?

The report records that, for the first time in a thematic inspection, the inspectorate issued an accelerated cause of concern, over “serious concerns with aspects of a collaboration between three forces on firearms and explosives licensing”: the tripartite arrangement between Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire, served in January. The chief constables accepted the findings in full and the inspectorate will revisit the forces. Policing minister Sarah Jones told Parliament on 9 September that shotgun certificate delays across the three counties were a matter for the three chief constables and their action plan, and that the Government expected the plan to bring continued improvements. Dealers in those counties will judge that by their own order books.

What happens next

Nothing changes at the counter today. Certificates, variations and dealer registrations are decided by the same units under the same law. Two things are already moving. Palantir Technologies was selected in June as the supplier to replace the National Firearms Licensing Management System, the database behind every certificate in England and Wales, and the system the trade’s transfer notifications ultimately land in. And the inspectorate has committed to revisiting Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire against its accelerated cause of concern.

The trade should watch for the Government’s formal response to the 23 recommendations, for any consultation on a national licensing authority, and for the shotgun consultation the Home Office has promised without a date. The full report, State of Policing: The Annual Assessment of Policing in England and Wales 2025–26, can be read on the HMICFRS website.

Useful links

HMICFRS – the State of Policing 2025–26 report in full

GOV.UK – the report as laid before Parliament, with the PDF

BASC – the association’s response to the thematic licensing inspection

UK Parliament – the Home Office’s “in due course” written answer on shotgun controls

Frequently asked questions

Does the State of Policing report change dealer registration or transfers now?

No. It is the Chief Inspector’s statutory annual assessment to the Home Secretary and makes recommendations. Registration under sections 33 to 35 of the Firearms Act 1968, certificates and variations are still decided by the police licensing units under the current law.

What would a national firearms licensing authority replace?

The 38 firearms and explosives licensing units run by police forces in England and Wales. The inspectorate recommends one authority with central control over decisions, training and performance and locally based staff for visits.

Is the licensing database being replaced?

Yes. Palantir Technologies was selected in June to replace the National Firearms Licensing Management System, the database behind every certificate in England and Wales.

Related articles

Chief Inspector takes licensing overhaul call to Home Secretary – the full ShootingUK report of the annual assessment

Firearms licensing not fit for purpose, says police watchdog – the thematic inspection of 28 August and its 23 recommendations

BSSC calls for a national approach to firearms licensing – the umbrella body’s case for one authority and real-time certificate verification

Home Office non-statutory firearms guidance – the guidance the inspectorate says is not clear enough

Palantir wins national firearms licensing contract – the replacement of the database behind every certificate