Government blasted over gun licence fees

West Midlands Police loses £19 on every gun licence issued - costing the force tens of thousands of pounds every year, it has emerged.

Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson blamed the government for compelling the force to 'subsidise gun ownership.'

On average it costs the police £19 more to issue a single gun licence than they are allowed to charge the applicant. The fee is set by the government.

The West Midlands force forecasts that this year, based on past figures, it will issue more than 3,600 gun licences - meaning it will lose out on around £71,000.

As police forces face continuing cuts, many senior police officers argue that gun licences should be cost efficient, and rise to around £200 a licence.

Britain has around 600,000 private gun licences, which are used by people like farmers, competitive marksmen or those who shoot for sport. Staffordshire Police, with a larger rural population than the West Midlands, is believed to lose out even more.

Chief police officers want to end the subsidy, arguing that the costs are being taken out of policing budgets.

The Home Office increased the firearms licence fees in April 2015 from £50 to £88 for a firearms certificate, and from £50 to £79.50 for a shotgun certificate. Renewal of a firearms certificate now costs £62, up from £40, and the fee for a shotgun certificate is £49, up from £40.

But it was the first increase since 2001, and West Midlands Police say it still does not allow the force to recover the full cost of running the firearms licensing service.

The PCC said the discrepancy caused him 'a certain irritation.'

"This is a government that has just cut our grant by £6 million but expects us to subsidise gun ownership. This cannot be right," said Mr Jamieson.

"West Midlands Police has been hit harder than any force in the country. We should not be subsidising gun ownership on top of that."

Shooting groups lobbied against the rise requested by the police officers and gun safety campaigners and the rise was initially blocked.

The British Association for Shooting and Conservation, the UK's largest pro-shooting organisation, said that an increase in the licensing fee had been due but added that the final figure should only have been calculated once police forces had disclosed their actual costs for overseeing teh service.