HMRC representatives told the Treasury Committee recently that it may need to hire up to 5,000 extra staff to handle customs and border checks and costed any customs arrangement with the EU post Brexit at up to £800 million.

The UK appear to expect customs declarations to multiply five-fold and while many UK businesses have a working customs relationship with the HMRC, it estimates that around 130,000 businesses will be dealing with customs for the first time.

HMRC said that it is examining the Singapore model which adopts a one-stop-shop approach meaning that companies can get border checks done in one place. HMRC believe that a system is deliverable but it’s estimated that it could take up to five years to get up and running.