Research and analysis

Executive Summary: Traders Survey – How NI and GB traders moved goods between GB, NI, Ireland and the EU after the end of the transition period Wave 6 (2022)

Published 15 July 2025

This research was commissioned under the Conservative administration (2010 to 2024), and conducted in 2022.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Research Report 815.

1. Executive summary

HMRC commissioned Ipsos to conduct research to examine businesses trading with Northern Ireland (NI). This included traders moving goods between Northern Ireland and the European Union (EU), along with traders moving goods between Northern Ireland and Great Britain (GB). This included their readiness, operations, and barriers to continue trading with the EU and between Great Britain and Northern Ireland since the end of the transition period (31 December 2020).

Findings in this report focus on the wave 6 quantitative survey and qualitative interviews, and all findings are based on wave 6 except where specified. The report makes comparisons with the wave 5 findings where there are statistically significant differences. Wave 6 focused on how traders continued to trade after the transition period ended. Wave 6 surveys were completed in February and March 2022 and wave 6 qualitative interviews were completed March 2022. The results reported reflect the context of that time, rather than any changes that may have happened since. Previous waves 1 to 5 focused on trading during the transition period and immediately after the transition period ended in January 2021. A separate report provides a summary of findings from waves 1 to 5.

This report focuses primarily on NI and GB traders who trade with the EU and trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. The report also covers NI and GB traders’ trade routes with Ireland.

1.1 Trade routes

Of all the NI traders, 63% moved goods to, from or via Great Britain. Just over one-third (36%) of all GB traders moved goods to or from Northern Ireland, either directly or as a route to other markets. This is lower than at wave 5 (43%).

NI traders (who moved goods between GB and NI) moved goods between Northern Ireland and Great Britain more often than GB traders (who moved goods between GB and NI) (53% did this at least weekly, compared with 27% of GB traders).

89% of all NI traders reported trading goods with Ireland. By contrast, 39% of all GB traders said they traded goods with Ireland, which was lower than the proportion at wave 5 (48%).

Traders mostly moved goods directly between Great Britain and Northern Ireland (77% of NI traders and 81% of GB traders who moved goods between GB and NI) not via Ireland. In comparison only a small proportion moved goods via Ireland since the end of the transition period (14% of NI traders and 5% of GB traders who moved goods between GB and NI). Of the traders that now move goods directly between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a minority said that they used to transport goods via Ireland prior to the end of the transition period (19% of NI and 9% of GB traders).

1.2 Moving goods and supply chains

Both NI traders (who moved goods between GB and NI) and GB traders (who moved goods between GB and NI) were most likely to have used a haulier for transporting goods to or from Northern Ireland (76% and 60% respectively).

Traders were asked about the change in the value of goods transported from Great Britain to Northern Ireland between 2020 and 2021. NI traders (who moved goods between GB and NI) were more likely than GB traders (who moved goods between GB and NI) to say the value had increased (49% compared with 16%), and were less likely to say the value had decreased (10% compared with 19%).

1.3 Customs obligations for moving goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland

NI traders were more likely than GB traders (who moved goods between GB and NI) to report that they had signed up to the Trader Support Service (68% compared with 38%), although there was a significant increase among GB traders (who moved goods between GB and NI) between wave 5 (21%) and wave 6 (38%). Most NI traders who had signed up found the Trader Support Service useful (66%), as did around half of GB traders who had signed up ^{[footnote 1]}.

NI traders were less likely to use an intermediary (either as well as or instead of the Trader Support Service), to complete declarations for goods moved between Great Britain and Northern Ireland than GB traders (who moved goods between GB and NI) (44% compared with 74%). 75% of GB traders (who moved goods between GB and NI) and a similar proportion of NI traders^{[footnote 2]} said they were satisfied with their experience of using an intermediary.

41% of NI traders (who moved goods between GB and NI) and 33% of GB traders (who moved goods between GB and NI) said that either all or some of the goods they moved between Great Britain and Northern Ireland were part of a complex supply chain.

Around half of NI traders (who moved goods between GB and NI) and who had made or attempted to make an entry in declarant’s records or a simplified frontier declaration said they found it difficult (49%), while 18% found it easy. Furthermore, more than half of NI traders (who moved goods between GB and NI) that had made or attempted to make a supplementary declaration said they found it difficult (59%), while 15% found it easy. In contrast, among GB traders (who moved goods between GB and NI), equal proportions found the entry in declarant’s records or simplified frontier declaration easy as found it difficult^{[footnote 3]}. Furthermore, among GB traders (who moved goods between GB and NI), around one-third found supplementary declarations easy and one-fifth found them difficult ^{[footnote 4]}.

16% of NI traders (who moved goods between GB and NI) and 5% of GB traders (who moved goods between GB and NI) said that at least some of the goods they moved from Great Britain to Northern Ireland were ‘at risk’. Goods at risk are goods brought into Northern Ireland from Great Britain or a country outside of both the EU and UK where they are ‘at risk’ of onward movement to the EU from Northern Ireland. At risk goods are charged the applicable EU duty.

54% of NI traders (who moved goods between GB and NI) and 34% of GB traders (who moved goods between GB and NI) were aware of obligations in relation to Unfettered Access when they moved goods from Northern Ireland to Great Britain.

In total, 90% of NI traders who imported goods from countries outside the EU reported that Northern Ireland was the final destination for at least some of these goods. Around 14% considered some of these goods to be ‘at risk’ and 4% said all the goods were ‘at risk’.

1.4 Barriers to trading

NI traders were less likely than GB traders (who moved goods between GB and NI) to cite barriers to trading with the EU (42% compared with 65%). Among both groups of traders, the most commonly reported barriers were paperwork or administrative burden (8% of NI traders and 19% of GB traders) and disruption or delays (6% and 10% respectively).

Among traders that mentioned at least one barrier, the types of support that were commonly seen as helpful were less complicated systems or processes, less red tape, less bureaucracy or paperwork, and clearer guidance or greater use of plain English.

The majority of all NI traders and GB traders (who moved goods between GB and NI) said that they did not face any specific barriers to trading between Great Britain and Northern Ireland (54% and 77% respectively).

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1. Percentages were not reported due to the small number of traders answering this question (56 of GB traders). ↩

2. Percentages were not reported due to the small number of traders answering this question (87 NI traders). ↩

3. Percentages were not reported due to the small number of traders answering this question (33 GB traders moved goods between GB and NI). ↩

4. Percentages were not reported due to the small number of traders answering this question (33 GB traders moved goods between GB and NI). ↩