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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.

**See paragraph 20 in the full consultation response.