The UK Government has now extended its Customs grant funding until 31st January 2021 with approximately around £7.5 million worth of funding still able to be claimed to help businesses train their staff in making Customs declarations, recruiting new staff or to help in funding Customs software or badge codes.
Who can apply?
Your business must:
- be established in, or have a branch in the UK when the grant is paid to you
- not have previously failed to meet its tax obligations – HMRC will check their records to decide if they can offer your business a grant
There are three types of grant that you can apply for & you are able to apply for three, if you can provide the evidence required. The types of grants are:
Recruitment grant
To apply for the grant, your business must:
- currently complete customs declarations on behalf of importers and exporters
- have been established in the UK for at least 12 months
Training grant
To apply for the training grant, your business must either:
- complete customs declarations for yourself or someone else (or intend to in the future)
- import from, or export to the EU and complete customs declarations (or intend to complete customs declarations in the future)
IT improvements grant
To apply for the IT improvements grant, your business must:
- currently complete customs declarations for importers and exporters
- have 250 employees or fewer
- have an annual turnover of less than €50 million
What you’ll need:
When you apply, you’ll be asked for your businesses:
- registered name and number
- contact details
- VAT number (if this applies)
- Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR)
- most recent utility bill
Depending on which grant you’re applying for, you’ll also need to provide some information about what you’ll use the funding for, for example:
Recruitment
You’ll be asked to complete a short application setting out how the money will be used. You’ll need to give information about:
- why you expect your business to need more staff
- the stage your recruitment process is at
- your reasons for expecting to have any new staff employed before 31 January 2021
To get the second 50% of eligible salary costs, you’ll need to provide for each new employee:
- their contract of employment
- first month pay slip
Training grant
You’ll be asked for:
- a quote for the cost of the training
- the CV of the trainer if the training will be delivered internally
IT improvements grant
You’ll be asked for:
- details of the software you intend to buy
- quotes for the cost of:
- buying and installing the software
- buying and installing related hardware
- training employees to use the software
You can register for any one of the Customs grants here: https://www.customsintermediarygrant.co.uk/
We would recommend that if you have a genuine need to train your staff, recruit or implement new Customs IT software that you consider applying for this grant, as the funding will only be around for a limited period and will assist businesses that complete Customs declarations with the complexities that are to come with Brexit & beyond.