Question
Can you share with the Board the costs associated with the PSNI processing gun licensing – Total allocated cost, income and ultimately the net loss.
How many PSNI staff could be employed for this money (loss)?
What costs would need to be recovered to ensure gun licensing is a financial breakeven process? – i/e/ per application increase?
Answer
Can you share with the Board the costs associated with the PSNI processing gun licensing – Total allocated cost, income and ultimately the net loss.
Estimated Full Costs: £3,295,000
Estimated FEB Receipts: £1,300,000
Estimated Shortfall: £1,995,000
How many PSNI staff could be employed for this money (loss)?
The current resourcing in Firearms and Explosives Branch is a mixed team of police staff grades, totalling 63 individuals. To cover this full cost the shortfall after receipts is paid from the PSNI budget. In order to provide a more timely service for every aspect of firearms licensing, PSNI would need to employ more staff at different grades across the team but the additional revenue generated from an increase in the fees would support this. The differing costs associated with each staff grade makes it challenging to estimate the total number that could be employed with an additional revenue of £1,995,000. However, for perspective, the applicable costs for each of the grades performing the majority of processing within Firearms and Explosives Branch is as follows:
ASO - £42,744
EO2 – £48,582
EO1 – £52,373
Staff Officer - £58,630
What costs would need to be recovered to ensure gun licensing is a financial breakeven process? – i/e/ per application increase?
From information gathered on current demand and cost within Firearms and Explosives Branch it is estimated that £1,995,000 will be required from the PSNI budget this year to cover the cost of running the department and performing the licensing function. However this is based upon the current resourcing of 63 staff. It is estimated that the resourcing would need to be enhanced in order to provide a more timely service in a consistent way. The current costs and shortfalls are based in a key assumption around demand per year remaining constant for firearms applications which could not be guaranteed following a fee increase and therefore may not be realistic going forward. It is unknown how dramatically a fee increase will affect the demand levels or what structure a new fee would take i.e. categories, types, per firearm etc.
If a constant demand were to be assumed across all licence types then an average increase of 153% would need to be applied across all licence categories to ensure that all costs can be funded out of receipts.
Frank McManus