The Home Office has opened a consultation on a mandatory licensing regime for knife sales and imports in the UK. The plan, aimed at blocking illegal sales and cutting off routes to minors, would bring both businesses and private sellers into scope, alongside importers of knives and other bladed items.

Under the proposals, applicants could be subject to police suitability checks, tougher age‑verification and secure, tamper‑evident packaging rules. An import licence would also be required to bring bladed items into the UK, designed to stop sellers switching fulfilment overseas to avoid domestic controls. Ministers argue that regulation must now reach the so‑called grey market where informal resales and social media listings can bypass checks.

This consultation builds on tighter legislation already passed, including Ronan’s Law, which strengthens rules for selling knives online. According to the Home Office, recent operations, border seizures and surrender schemes have removed around 60,000 knives from circulation, while knife homicides are down 18 percent, overall knife crime down 5 percent, and recorded stabbings down 10 percent on the previous year.

For retailers and e‑commerce platforms, the direction of travel is clear: licensing would hard‑wire accountability into the sale process and post‑purchase handling. That likely means documented age checks at checkout and on delivery, auditable training for staff, product‑level controls in marketplaces, and packaging that reduces the risk of misuse in transit or at point of delivery.

Business groups are urging proportionality. The British Retail Consortium has said any scheme must be practical so legitimate everyday items, such as kitchen knives and cutlery, can continue to be sold without undue friction. In plain terms, retailers want clear definitions of scope, workable licence conditions and fees that smaller shops can absorb without distorting margins.

E‑commerce and importers will feel the cross‑border piece most. By tying imports to a licence, the Home Office intends to stem the flow of bladed items shipped directly to UK addresses by sellers based abroad. That would put more responsibility on marketplace vendors, fulfilment partners and drop‑ship operators to evidence who is authorised to trade and how age is verified end‑to‑end.

Enforcement data underline why consistency matters. The National Police Chiefs’ Council says a recent Sceptre operation in November found roughly one in four shops failed a test purchase for age restrictions. A licensing regime would aim to push standards to a single baseline across high street and online, with clearer sanctions for persistent non‑compliance.

The push for tighter control has a human spur. Sixteen‑year‑old Ronan Kanda was murdered in Wolverhampton; the weapons had been ordered online. His mother, Pooja Kanda, supports the consultation, while an end‑to‑end review of online knife sales led by NPCC knife crime lead Commander Stephen Clayman recommended stronger retailer regulation to keep knives out of young hands.

For now this is a consultation, not law. Details on fees, conditions and precise scope will follow if ministers proceed. Retailers should use the window to audit product listings, review age‑verification tools, speak with carriers about to‑door ID checks, plan for tamper‑evident packaging, and gather evidence on costs to feed into the Home Office process. If the proposals advance, firms that prepared early will adjust fastest.