Coterminous Renewal - the long wait continues!

[saddler]

Well, it's not a Leap Year, but excluding weekends & Bank Holidays, I am now up to 366 working days since my forms were submitted....or 526 calendar days.

FEO visit was over 4 weeks ago now - with several subsequent contact phone calls from him to ask for information that for the most part had all been provided either on the renewal forms or on the day of his visit....or in one case had been provided 14 days earlier by e-mail (which he found within 24 hours)
The phone lines to their office are manned daily from 09.00 to 11.00 - in theory at least - about three dozen calls in the last week of June all went unanswered.

The force are blaming staff shortages, yet they are close to completing a new build county wide custody suite and admin block hub that is costing in excess of £21M

 

[Lone wolf]

That's a long renewal time, I think there has been other members from Durham who have had theres done in recent months with a 6 month turn around @Bluey If I remember rightly?

I did know there was at one point 12months on most renewals but with the "staffing" issues now being sorted and from what I have gathered by the quicker renewal times recently the new decision makers may be trained up and churning there way through the pile.

I tried to call a few times last week as I wanted to add additional land onto my grant (21 months tomorrow) but got bi answer so I resorted to emails which my FEO is very good at picking up and doing what she needs to do on her part it's just hits a wall after she passes it up higher.

I wonder if you have slipped through the net somehow?

Hope you dont have to much of a wait on your hands

 

[reiver]

Just got mine back in14 weeks .

 

[foxhunter]

Had my FEO visit on Monday, said the 3 women are due back off maternity leave so things should get better.
He said I should get my tickets in about 3 weeks so submitted in January and hopefully renewed in September.

 

[saddler]

Now at 380 working days since the forms were submitted.
Reply from last Monday is more or less echoed in the reply today - it will likely be prioritised - but actions speak louder than words.

 

[Tazz]

Just completed mine I am Bedfordshire so we are twinned with Herts and Cambridg. Received my renewal letter a week ago, I had already contacted my doctor 5 weeks ago. Beds now fully all on line i was doing co-tenuous for FAC/SC even with all the paperwork in front of me on the table it took 2 hours, that included filling in every rifle/shotgun, make calibre and serial number despite the fact they have all that on their system. That said Beds performance is normally good on this stuff and I have till mid December as the end date. Will update with progress

 

[TH4]

Why should the police hurry? They get paid whatever happens. There are no penalties for them no matter how slow, lazy or incompetent they are. Something that is echoed throughout the public sector.

 

[saddler]

Had my FEO visit on Monday, said the 3 women are due back off maternity leave so things should get better.
He said I should get my tickets in about 3 weeks so submitted in January and hopefully renewed in September.

I'd almost wish that my force had been this efficient - yet you are with the same force as I am - poles apart level of service!!

 

[muddy42]

The private sector is all fast-track this, digital applications, virtual and paperless that, but yet public sector is stuck in paper forms, letters and chits!

 

[badmolassesaccident]

So if it is the fault of the public service or the police being lazy or inefficient, why are things worse now than before? Presumably the entire public service didn't just decide to get inefficient overnight.

The police are now required to perform more tasks, with no or minimal increase in resources to perform those tasks. This makes things slower. If you want better service, vote for someone who will fund it better. Do you think the police got a wedge of extra cash to fund all the extra work following GP checking requirements and the fallout over Plymouth?

My FEO did the renewal interview by phone, instead of a home visit. If you are looking for efficiency, then this seems quite efficient rather than driving over to see me then driving back again.

 

[finnbear270]

A lot has to do with inefficient staff who are without the training / knowledge to expedite.

 

[25 Sharps]

The private sector is all fast-track this, digital applications, virtual and paperless that, but yet public sector is stuck in paper forms, letters and chits!

All forms are electronic now…

 

[muddy42]

All forms are electronic now…

I wasn't just talking about firearms licensing, its everywhere. My doctor sends me letters confirming what was said in the appointment, prescriptions still get hand written.

Regarding licensing though, the FEO still asks masses questions in person and writes them down that could have been recorded on the application form. The forms should be processed centrally (like the DVLA) only once your applications passes various desktop checks (and even HO guidelines etc.) should the cases be handed to the local force. The in person interview should only be to see that you are a real person, get a sense of your character and confirm what was on the form. You could even be allowed to send photographic evidence in with the form. The in-person interview could be performed by facetime for a proportion of the cases, for masses of renewals nothing major changes for decades. The medical certificate process needs a right shake up. If it is needed, doctors should be forced to tow the line and provide a standard service. Inefficiencies and delays all over the place. I renewed and changed my address on my driving license the other day and the photocard arrived in the post two days later. I appreciate licensing is slightly more complicated but 366 days FFS!

 

[badmolassesaccident]

^ I get electronic prescriptions and any referrals get sent electronically, with me getting a paper copy.

Anyway, maybe a centralised DVLA type system would be good, but that is not under the control of individual police forces. My renewal interview was by phone. The medical referral system is a problem, but that is because of weak regulation on how fast GPs need to respond. And because public health is underfunded along with policing, so the GP lacks time to do the medical certification, just as the police lack time to perform the work lumped on them. A police issue but not a firearms licensing issue, is that the police spend a lot of time looking after the mentally ill instead of policing, because mental health funding like the rest of public health funding, is insufficient.

So basically all due to a lack of cash, with is under central government control not police control. The police only do what the Home Office requires of them, with the funding they are given. Year long renewals are the result.

 

[25 Sharps]

I wasn't just talking about firearms licensing, its everywhere. My doctor sends me letters confirming what was said in the appointment, prescriptions still get hand written.

Regarding licensing though, the FEO still asks masses questions in person and writes them down that could have been recorded on the application form. The forms should be processed centrally (like the DVLA) only once your applications passes various desktop checks (and even HO guidelines etc.) should the cases be handed to the local force. The in person interview should only be to see that you are a real person, get a sense of your character and confirm what was on the form. You could even be allowed to send photographic evidence in with the form. The in-person interview could be performed by facetime for a proportion of the cases, for masses of renewals nothing major changes for decades. The medical certificate process needs a right shake up. If it is needed, doctors should be forced to tow the line and provide a standard service. Inefficiencies and delays all over the place. I renewed and changed my address on my driving license the other day and the photocard arrived in the post two days later. I appreciate licensing is slightly more complicated but 366 days FFS!

The private sector is all fast-track this, digital applications, virtual and paperless that, but yet public sector is stuck in paper forms, letters and chits!

So on a thread about licensing the above didn’t refer to licensing at all?

Also GPs are generally private and charge the NHS……that said all of my surgery’s prescription are electronic- they go straight to the pharmacy!

 

[eldon]

^ I get electronic prescriptions and any referrals get sent electronically, with me getting a paper copy.

Anyway, maybe a centralised DVLA type system would be good, but that is not under the control of individual police forces. My renewal interview was by phone. The medical referral system is a problem, but that is because of weak regulation on how fast GPs need to respond. And because public health is underfunded along with policing, so the GP lacks time to do the medical certification, just as the police lack time to perform the work lumped on them. A police issue but not a firearms licensing issue, is that the police spend a lot of time looking after the mentally ill instead of policing, because mental health funding like the rest of public health funding, is insufficient.

So basically all due to a lack of cash, with is under central government control not police control. The police only do what the Home Office requires of them, with the funding they are given. Year long renewals are the result.

I wouldn't hang your hopes on a central DVLA type outfit..... I bought a new vehicle and sent off the green slip, the only ammendment was the address everything else was as was.
Five weeks later, they state to wait four weeks before following up, I contact them to be told it will be looked into.
A week or so later I receive a letter stating that it will be processed by a certain date, three weeks in the future.
WTF that means it took them over two months just to change an address, no additional items, change of calibres etc.

Its all about service charters these days when it suits, the letter to me was a total waste of time and will have taken the same time, admin and postsl cost as just processing the correct document!

Creation of inefficiency appears to be what we are good at!!!