My diary of my FAC application 😵‍💫

[Steve2_1]

So the latest update on my application is still a nope. However, at the Dorset County Show over the weekend, I saw the Dorset Crime Commissioner stand. So, according to my wife I made a sharp 90 degree turn marching with purpose (not the intention!) and asked them directly what's going on. Credit where credit is due, they were very informative and explained that COVID battered them, and apparently after the Plymouth incident half the FAC team left (tells a story), so they ended up with backlogs, short staff, and new staff who needed training from the little remaining experienced staff.
Apparently now they are catching up, but they are dealing with so many complaints it's slowing them down further.
As I know my application, and medical, has been received, all I can do is wait....

 

[Steve2_1]

Approaching 12 months, still a nope

 

[Morkai]

So the latest update on my application is still a nope. However, at the Dorset County Show over the weekend, I saw the Dorset Crime Commissioner stand. So, according to my wife I made a sharp 90 degree turn marching with purpose (not the intention!) and asked them directly what's going on. Credit where credit is due, they were very informative and explained that COVID battered them, and apparently after the Plymouth incident half the FAC team left (tells a story), so they ended up with backlogs, short staff, and new staff who needed training from the little remaining experienced staff.
Apparently now they are catching up, but they are dealing with so many complaints it's slowing them down further.
As I know my application, and medical, has been received, all I can do is wait....

Ah the old covid, a classic p*ss poor customer service excuse.

 

[Shrike]

Anyone else going though or has gone through a grant with Avon and Somerset recently?
I applied in April, had all the land and security checks done by mid august.
Have been told I am in the pile but that the pile is around a year!
Eta is next September apparently…

 

[User00057]

New grants I think will always take the back seat. Just due to the fact renewals have to be done and they can leave grants. Saying that, extensions have become the norm for myself in the last 10 years. Even putting them in well in advance. They just don’t have the manpower I think.

 

[SOE]

A new phenomenon has arisen in some forces...the Temporary Variation...anyone had one granted..I am in Hampshire

 

[User00057]

I haven’t but it would suit me as waiting on new Cal and running low on time due to stalk booked. They have had 18 weeks now so not looking promising

 

[Kersnow]

My applications been away a year. Contacted them in June to be told they were processing May 21 applications then again in early September as a ref had moved to be told they were up to May 21..... A joke really high time someone took a test case against them

 

[bluesako]

i am getting on in years, but still got that buzz about pulling the trigger, way back when, it took me 5 days to get my first fire arms licence, and it was open, times have changed, i hope you all get your tickets soon bs.

 

[Brighty3006]

Friend of mine in Northamptonshire 7 months in on his renewals still got nothing

 

[Lone wolf]

County Durham

22 months into a grant

Application recieved November 2020
Interview, land cleared, mentor spoken to in August 2021.......been on the decision makers desk since

Numerous emails and the same, covid staffing issues are the cause

I know 3 people who have complained to there local MP and there SGC came a week or so later, but I have been told by the firearms department that no license's have been expedited by complaining

It will be 2 years in November and im desperate need of my Fac to effectively control vermin on my land, currently using a sub12 airgun which is painfully restricting and so many missed opportunities if I had my FAC.

I have a freind who is a solicitor and he has offered to write me a letter

Will see what happens in the next week or so and then I think I will have to bring up my concerns with being told that no license's have been speeded up by complaints when they clearly have when people like myself have been patiently waiting and fully understanding in the restraints that the licencing department have been working under.

 

[Steve2_1]

County Durham

22 months into a grant

Application recieved November 2020
Interview, land cleared, mentor spoken to in August 2021.......been on the decision makers desk since

Numerous emails and the same, covid staffing issues are the cause

I know 3 people who have complained to there local MP and there SGC came a week or so later, but I have been told by the firearms department that no license's have been expedited by complaining

It will be 2 years in November and im desperate need of my Fac to effectively control vermin on my land, currently using a sub12 airgun which is painfully restricting and so many missed opportunities if I had my FAC.

I have a freind who is a solicitor and he has offered to write me a letter

Will see what happens in the next week or so and then I think I will have to bring up my concerns with being told that no license's have been speeded up by complaints when they clearly have when people like myself have been patiently waiting and fully understanding in the restraints that the licencing department have been working under.

Blimey. At the end of the day, if it's a grant which is not required for a professional use (like gamekeeper, etc) it very much goes at the bottom of the pile. Which is fair enough, but 22 months..... Damn

 

[Lone wolf]

Blimey. At the end of the day, if it's a grant which is not required for a professional use (like gamekeeper, etc) it very much goes at the bottom of the pile. Which is fair enough, but 22 months..... Damn

The irony is that if I lived 15-20 mile in another direction i would have probably had a answer back with in 12-16 weeks!

I have 160 acers to shoot over on farm land which is the landowners livelihoods and it's in desperate need of being controlled, I need my fac to effectively managed this land not blast a few Clay's on a weekend so time is a serious consideration for me especially this time of the year when the crops are down and drilling is being done and new crops being planted I need to make use of this time

It's been a long haul that's for sure and no end in sight but hopefully I will get some news soon

Likewise for you mate I hope you get yours asap

 

[VSS]

The irony is that if I lived 15-20 mile in another direction i would have probably had a answer back with in 12-16 weeks!

I have 160 acers to shoot over on farm land which is the landowners livelihoods and it's in desperate need of being controlled, I need my fac to effectively managed this land not blast a few Clay's on a weekend so time is a serious consideration for me especially this time of the year when the crops are down and drilling is being done and new crops being planted I need to make use of this time

It's been a long haul that's for sure and no end in sight but hopefully I will get some news soon

Likewise for you mate I hope you get yours asap

If the farmer's livelihood is genuinely affected by your temporary inability to carry out pest control then you've got a perfectly legitimate reason to put pressure on your firearms dept to get a move on, backed up by some pressure from the landowner too. In my experience, that would take precedence over a purely recreational application.

 

[Liveonce]

County Durham

22 months into a grant

Application recieved November 2020
Interview, land cleared, mentor spoken to in August 2021.......been on the decision makers desk since

Numerous emails and the same, covid staffing issues are the cause

I know 3 people who have complained to there local MP and there SGC came a week or so later, but I have been told by the firearms department that no license's have been expedited by complaining

It will be 2 years in November and im desperate need of my Fac to effectively control vermin on my land, currently using a sub12 airgun which is painfully restricting and so many missed opportunities if I had my FAC.

I have a freind who is a solicitor and he has offered to write me a letter

Will see what happens in the next week or so and then I think I will have to bring up my concerns with being told that no license's have been speeded up by complaints when they clearly have when people like myself have been patiently waiting and fully understanding in the restraints that the licencing department have been working under.

After another two months if still no FAC i would send the chief constable and crime commissioner a birthday card / anniversary card as an invite to a party to celebrate their incompetence in the job.

 

[Foxyboy43]

After another two months if still no FAC i would send the chief constable and crime commissioner a birthday card / anniversary card as an invite to a party to celebrate their incompetence in the job.

As per my post on an older thread - many years ago I wrote to the RUC CC telling him I was ordering a cake to celebrate the first anniversary of my application and inviting him and his guests to the party so could he advise please on how many he wished to bring….
Three days later my fac appeared in the porch - 2 hours after the postman had been!

 

[ChesterP]

As per my post on an older thread - many years ago I wrote to the RUC CC telling him I was ordering a cake to celebrate the first anniversary of my application and inviting him and his guests to the party so could he advise please on how many he wished to bring….
Three days later my fac appeared in the porch - 2 hours after the postman had been!

Lol! Might try that one!

I spoke with my FEO today and far from being deliberately slow to process applications and renewals, it seems H/O advice post-Plymouth has been quite strict in that the H/O are insisting on medical records being checked way back, not just for the statutory 10 years which they (*NHS) are currently obliged to keep them. This is proving to be a real headache for many forces and may in part be one of the reasons for these delays. The only way around it, it seems, is that FEO's are using the F2F renewal interviews (where happening) to ask the applicants if there are any (from the scheduled list) of conditions they need to declare past the 10 year cut off period for records, as a failure to disclose something would later result in revocation of certificates. I guess there's little else they can do?

 

[Liveonce]

Lol! Might try that one!

I spoke with my FEO today and far from being deliberately slow to process applications and renewals, it seems H/O advice post-Plymouth has been quite strict in that the H/O are insisting on medical records being checked way back, not just for the statutory 10 years which they (*NHS) are currently obliged to keep them. This is proving to be a real headache for many forces and may in part be one of the reasons for these delays. The only way around it, it seems, is that FEO's are using the F2F renewal interviews (where happening) to ask the applicants if there are any (from the scheduled list) of conditions they need to declare past the 10 year cut off period for records, as a failure to disclose something would later result in revocation of certificates. I guess there's little else they can do?

So are you saying they need longer than 22months to arrange a F2F renewal interview? So they can ask you if you ever had a relevant medical condition prior to the ten years your GP report covered? Have they never heard of a telephone in County Durham?

 

[Jack3]

Anyone have any recent experience with the MET?
I submitted FAC application in May so guessing I'll have a long wait...

 

[Kentish]

Anyone have any recent experience with the MET?
I submitted FAC application in May so guessing I'll have a long wait...

I have a mate who applied to the MET in early August 2021 and was granted in mid Jan 2022. That was immediately after they started accepting applications again after stopping grants during covid, so I'd hope it was a bit quicker now.