Changing your name on a firearm or shotgun certificate

How do I change the name on a firearm or shotgun certificate?#

Tell the firearms licensing department of the police force that issued it. In much of England and Wales that means an online "update your details" form that includes a change of name. Police Scotland and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) publish no set route for a name, so you contact their licensing teams. The certificate's own conditions require you to report a new permanent address, not a new name, and no force we checked publishes a fee, an evidence list or a timescale for a new name on these certificates.

What people call a firearms or shotgun licence is, in law, a firearm certificate or a shotgun certificate. In England, Wales and Scotland it comes from the chief officer of police for the area where you live (sections 26A and 26B of the Firearms Act 1968), and it bears the issuing force's crest.

Do I have to tell the police about a new name?#

The law speaks only of a new address, but the police ask for a new name as well. The conditions printed on every certificate in Great Britain come from rules 3 and 5 of the Firearms Rules 1998, and the third, as printed on the current forms, says the holder "must, without undue delay, inform the Chief Officer of Police by whom the certificate was granted of any change of permanent address". None mentions a name, including the two health conditions added by the Firearms (Amendment) Rules 2026 on 29 September 2026, and neither does the Home Office's guide to firearms licensing law. Breaking a condition is an offence under sections 1(2) and 2(2) of the 1968 Act.

Many forces publish the same page for certificate holders, which says "you need to tell us if your details have changed" and puts a change of name first in its list. The Metropolitan Police, Greater Manchester, West Midlands, Kent, Hampshire and Isle of Wight and South Wales are among them. Anyone selling you a firearm or shotgun must see your certificate first (section 3(2)), so it is worth keeping it in step with your name.

Telling a force in England and Wales#

At the forces with that page, one online form takes a new name, address, contact details or GP, or a change in where you store your firearms. The Met's version begins by asking for "the details we already have on file for you, even if you are updating your name": all your forenames in full, your surname, date of birth, certificate number and email address. The Met says its licensing team will contact you if it has questions, and emails you a reference number.

Elsewhere, Avon and Somerset, Devon and Cornwall and West Yorkshire publish forms for a change of address but say nothing about a name, so use the force's contact page for firearms licensing.

What to send, the cost and the wait#

None of the forces' pages says what evidence it wants for a new name, or whether it wants an original or a copy. Have your deed poll, or your marriage or civil partnership certificate, ready in case the licensing team asks, and send an original only if it is requested.

No fee is published either. The Act charges for granting and renewing certificates, for a variation that adds firearms (£48) and for replacing a certificate that has been lost or destroyed (£9); it sets no fee for a change of name (section 32). No force publishes a timescale.

Renewing or varying in your new name#

Form 201, the application to grant or renew a certificate, asks for your surname and all your forenames, then for any other name you have used; the Home Office published a revised version on 29 September 2026. Form 201V, for varying a firearm certificate, has a line for previous surnames. Police Scotland's guide to Form 201V asks for your personal details "as they appear on your current certificate", so tell the licensing team about a new name before, or together with, a variation.

Scotland#

Police Scotland grants firearm and shotgun certificates under the same Act and Rules, and the 2026 Rules state that they extend to Scotland. It publishes no change of name process for these certificates; the email address for each area's licensing team is on its firearms and explosives licensing page. Scotland also licenses air weapons, and there the route is written down: a change of name on an air weapon certificate needs form AWL-4 and a £20 fee, and you return the certificate so that a new one can be posted to you.

Northern Ireland#

Northern Ireland has its own law, the Firearms (Northern Ireland) Order 2004, and the Home Office guide notes that shotguns there are held on a firearm certificate too. The PSNI's Firearms and Explosives Branch does the licensing through the My PSNI Portal, which takes a change of address but lists no change of name. Its contact route is email, to firearms@psni.police.uk, giving your full name, PID number and application reference. The Order lets the Chief Constable issue an "updated certificate", meaning the certificate revised up to a date shown on it, and the PSNI's fee for one is £14; it does not say whether a new name is dealt with that way.

Your passport, driving licence and other ID#

None of the forces' pages says whether to change your passport or driving licence first, or asks for a document in your new name, so the certificate need not wait for them. GOV.UK says a signed deed poll works as proof of a new name straight away. Until your documents match, keep it to hand: the Home Office guide says that someone collecting a firearm from a second dealer must show satisfactory proof of identity with the certificate, and a deed poll explains a different name rather than proving who you are. HM Passport Office, DVLA and who to tell, in what order cover the rest.

If you also hold an explosives certificate#

In Great Britain, an explosives certificate also comes from the chief officer of police, and the Explosives Regulations 2014 likewise ask only about a new address: the holder must report it "either before or immediately after" the move (regulation 11). The forces' update pages are written for firearm and shotgun certificate holders, so mention an explosives certificate when you contact the licensing team.