The Firearms (Amendment) Rules 2026, S.I. 2026/1050, make a focused change to firearms licensing rather than a wider rewrite of firearms law. Made by the Secretary of State under the Firearms Act 1968 and published on legislation.gov.uk, the Rules were signed on 23 September 2026 and come into force on 29 September 2026 across England and Wales and Scotland. The main legal effect is to turn certain medical disclosures into an ongoing duty after a certificate has been granted. For licensing teams and certificate holders, that moves the emphasis from a one-off declaration at application stage to continuing notification during the life of the certificate.
The instrument amends rule 3 of the Firearms Rules 1998 for firearm certificates and rule 5 for shot gun certificates. In both cases, a new condition is added requiring the holder to inform the granting chief officer of police, without undue delay, if they are diagnosed as suffering from a relevant medical condition, receive treatment for one, or if symptoms of a previously disclosed relevant medical condition have worsened since the certificate was granted. That drafting matters because it attaches the reporting duty directly to the certificate. A holder who has already passed the grant stage is therefore expected to notify the police when a relevant medical change arises, rather than waiting until the next renewal.
The Rules also add a second reporting requirement where the certificate holder consults a medical practitioner who is not their own General Practitioner, or a GP from the same practice, about a relevant medical condition. In that case, the holder must notify the granting police force and provide the practitioner's contact details together with details of the treatment received. For certificate holders, the practical effect is an added record-keeping step. Where care is received outside the usual GP practice, the police must be told promptly and with enough information for the licensing authority to understand who provided treatment and in what context.
Alongside the medical reporting changes, the instrument replaces several standard documents used in the licensing process. Schedule 1 substitutes a new application form for the grant or renewal of a firearm and/or shot gun certificate, Schedule 2 substitutes a new firearm certificate, and Schedule 3 substitutes a new shot gun certificate. This is not only an administrative refresh. The explanatory material states that a relevant medical condition is defined by reference to the Medical Information section of the new Schedule 1 application form, which means applicants and advisers will need to read the revised wording in that form closely when preparing applications.
There is, however, a short transition for application paperwork. Rule 3 provides that an application may continue to be made using the previous application form if it is received on or before 29 October 2026 by the chief officer of police for the area in which the applicant resides. That one-month window reduces the risk that applications already in preparation will fail on a formatting point alone. The substantive legal change still starts on 29 September 2026, but the move to the new application form is phased in until 29 October 2026.
In scope, the amendment is narrow but clear. It affects applicants for firearm and shot gun certificates, existing certificate holders, and police firearms licensing units. It does not create a direct reporting duty on clinicians in the text of this instrument; the legal obligation described here sits with the certificate holder. For those holding certificates, the compliance position is straightforward. If a relevant medical condition is diagnosed, treated, or worsens after grant, or if treatment is sought from a practitioner outside the normal GP practice, the police must be informed without undue delay. Because the Rules do not set a fixed number of days, prompt notification is likely to matter more than waiting for a later review point.
The Home Office's explanatory note says no full impact assessment has been produced because no, or no significant, effect on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen. Even so, the operational message is straightforward. The government has tightened the continuing disclosure rules around medical fitness and refreshed the standard documents used in firearms licensing. From 29 September 2026, police forces, applicants and current certificate holders will need to work to the new reporting position, while the older application form remains temporarily acceptable until 29 October 2026. Read as a whole, the instrument closes the gap between grant and renewal by requiring relevant medical changes to be reported as they arise.