At the end of July, the government announced an extra £2.1bn of funding towards preparations for a ‘No Deal Brexit’. This would represent a doubling of the money that had previously been set aside for this year.
The funding will include £130m towards a public information campaign raising awareness about the advice and help that would be available should the UK leave the EU without a deal. It also includes £108m funding towards helping businesses to ‘ensure they are ready for Brexit’. The latter will also include a ‘national programme of business readiness’ and support that helps exporters to prepare for and capitalise on new opportunities, according to the BBC.
The new Chancellor, Sajid Javid MP, announced that £344m is to be spent on new border and customs operations, including recruiting an extra 500 border force officers and extra money towards the training of customs agents. The funding also includes upgrades to transport infrastructure at the ports and plans for easing the expected traffic congestion in Kent should delays be caused at the border.
The Government had previously provided Grant Funding to companies needing training in order to correctly complete Customs Declarations for the first time to continue selling into Europe after Brexit, or for investment in IT that businesses can use for this. It is thought that this Grant scheme could be reopened in early September 2019, with more details to be shared in due course.
It has been reported that there are 240,000 businesses in the UK who currently only send goods to the EU and who will need to complete Customs Declarations in order to continue doing so after Brexit. Only 70,000 of these businesses have registered for an economic operator registration and identification (EORI) number – something which is needed for completing Customs Declarations. HMRC is pressing for the remaining 170,000 potentially affected businesses to obtain their EORI number urgently - this can be done for free and online at www.gov.uk/hmrc/get-eori
If you are looking to prepare for Brexit now, the Institute of Export & International Trade is providing training courses in completing Customs Declarations, alongside our Post Brexit Planning Workshop and Post Brexit Compliance & Documentation course.
If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch:
01733 404400