Brexit: Up to £25m to help firms prepare for 'Irish Sea border'

Northern Ireland is staying in the EU single market for goods at the end of the transition period

The UK government is preparing to spend up to £25m to help companies deal with the new post-Brexit complications when trading between GB and NI.

At the end of the Brexit transition on 1 January, Northern Ireland will stay in the EU single market for goods.

The rest of the UK will not, so there will be a range of new processes when shipping goods from GB to NI.

HMRC is tendering for "an end-to-end service to support businesses with new administrative processes".

Tender documents note that HMRC "wants to test the market for a service that can identify and support the education of traders and carriers about their obligations".

It also wants a system that can make electronic declarations relevant to HMRC systems.

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Business have already been briefed about the computer system which will be used to manage goods trade between GB and NI from January.

It is called the Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS) and will be largely used by haulage firms and ferry companies.

It will link customs, safety & transit declarations into a single 'Goods Movement Reference' (GMR), which lorry drivers will have to present before their load can board a ferry.

The GMR will also be used to assess which loads will have to be subject to checks when they arrive in Northern Ireland.

The government hopes to pilot GVMS by November and have it fully operational for 1 January.