What’s Happening and When

To ensure the transition from NCTS4 to NCTS5 in Northern Ireland (NI) and Great Britain (GB) takes place with minimal disruption for traders, the changes will be implemented on separate dates, as follows:

• Friday 28^th June - NCTS5 in NI (XI)
• Monday 1^st July - NCTS5 in GB 

Commercial software Providers:

• Watch for commercial software providers switching their software from NCTS4 to NCTS5 on July 1^st, rather than on two separate dates. This may be to ensure that the changes to their software are made after changes have been made to both the NI (XI) and GB systems. Commercial software providers should contact clients to confirm their software switchover date when 1^st July 2024 has been provisioned. However, HMRC recommends that businesses proactively check with their providers before 28^th June 2024, to confirm which date their provider is switching over.
• Some software providers use two separate software packages for NI and GB and should communicate this to businesses directly.
• Your software provider may have other issues with the cutover. Readiness should be communicated directly from the provider to the business client. Again, HMRC recommends checking with the third-party software provider.

Service Downtimes:

The authorities have advised of the following scheduled downtimes for the XI (NI) and GB systems. They estimate that 7 hours should be the optimum time needed to make a successful cutover. 

This time is estimated, and planning for a more prolonged cutover outage may be prudent.

Friday 28^th June 2024: XI (NI) Service Downtime

The XI service will be unavailable for approximately seven hours from 09:00 to 16:00 British Summer Time (BST).

Action:

Before this time, you will need to:

• Discharge all arrivals. If arrivals are not discharged, HMRC must manually discharge them during the 7 hours the system is unavailable. It is, therefore, prudent to discharge all arrivals in good time before the downtime.
• Make sure you have received the Release for Transit notification for any submitted declarations before you move the goods.

If your software provider is not switching from NCTS4 to NCTS5 until 1^st July:

• If you are planning to move goods under the normal procedure, you should rearrange for goods movement, avoiding June 28^th to July 1^st (inclusive) or
• Use the Web portal to submit declarations following the downtime on Friday, 28^th June

Action Authorised Consignors

• Submit and release all XI declarations for goods moving on 28^th, 29^th, 30^th June and 1^st July before 09.00 on 28^th June.

Monday 1^st July 2024

The GB service will be unavailable from 06:00 to 13:00 (BST) for approximately 7 hours.

Action: Before 06:00 on Monday 1^st July:

• Discharge all arrivals, where possible. Arrivals that are not discharged will require HMRC manual intervention while the system is unavailable. This will inevitably cause delays

Authorised Consignor/Consignees: 

• Submit and release all declarations for goods moving on 1^st July

Recommendation:  It is advisable not to start the movement of goods requiring attendance at an Inland Border Facility (IBF) or ports where movements are started under normal procedures.

Top Tip:

• While NCTS4 in XI is unavailable, the GB NCTS4 service will remain online and available to submit declarations.
• While NCTS4 in GB is unavailable, the new XI NCTS5 will be online and available to submit declarations.

Important

If it is essential to move goods and you have been unable to submit the declarations prior to the start of system downtime, you will be able to use the existing manual fallback procedure. However, travel to an Inland Border Facility (IBF) to start a transit movement should be avoided until the system is available.

The manual fallback process has been published in Section 6 in the Transit Manual Supplement, link below:

Transit Manual Supplement.

Managing Cutover to NCTS5 – Technical points to note

• Whether you use commercial software or the free-to-use web portal via the Government Gateway to submit your transit movements, you must ensure you’re using an up-to-date subscription from 28^th June or 1^st July 2024. You can find more information on the following link:

How to subscribe to the New Computerised Transit System - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

• All third-party software developers must have approved Production Credentials for using Transitional rules before their software can be used from 1^st July 2024. If Production Credentials are not granted by 1^st July 2024, third-party software will not be able to be used until Final state rules are in force from 00:00:01 on 22^nd January 2025 (GMT). 

If this deadline is missed, CTC movements can still be submitted; however, these must be made via the free Web Portal on Gov.UK.

Dealing with open movements in NCTS4.

• Open movements at the point of deployment will be closed by HMRC in NCTS4 wherever possible.
• Not all movements will be able to be closed, as closure will depend on their state at the point of cutover. 
• On NCTS4, any movements with a Movement Reference Number (MRN) issued, and an Anticipated Arrival Record (AAR) sent by the Office of Departure to the Office of Destination will be closed.
• Any movements that have not reached the AAR state described above may need to be resubmitted to NCTS5.

Business Continuity/fallback

It is recommended that you avoid moving goods under transit during periods of downtime. If, however, you must move goods, then the following fallback processes will apply:

• For inbound movements into GB or Northern Ireland, where the NCTS movement has already commenced, the paper TAD (Transit Accompanying Document) should be presented as now.

When goods are moving into GB or XI via a GVMS location, the party responsible for moving the goods (e.g., a haulier) should enter the TAD MRN from NCTS into the Goods Movement Reference (GMR).

• For outbound movements from GB where a transit movement cannot be started due to downtime in NCTS4 GB, travel can still be supported using either an offline TAD generated from 3rd party software or the C88 Single Administrative Document (SAD).

See the link at the bottom of this article:

• If moving through a GVMS location, a GMR should be completed as done now, selecting either the Export DUCR or the SAD/Fallback option (in instances where permitted, e.g., where you have certain authorisations).

• For movements from XI to GB where it is not possible to start a transit movement in NCTS4 XI due to downtime, travel can be facilitated by using either an offline TAD generated from third-party software or the C88 Single Administrative Document (SAD). 

• When completing the Goods Movement Reference (GMR), select the SAD/Fallback option. 
• Further guidance on fallback procedures is available in Chapter 6 of the transit manual supplement. Transit Manual Supplement - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Further HMRC Support



General NCTS enquiries

For general NCTS enquiries, contact the helpdesk at ncts.helpdesk@hmrc.gov.uk or 0300 322 7095.

Issues with NCTS online services

Difficulty accessing services such as lost passwords should be referred to the online support information ‘technical’ support with HMRC online services - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) or the online services helpdesk by calling 0300 200 3600.

CTC procedures

Users are asked to refer to the Transit Manual Supplement for detailed procedures. Note that once the NCTS5 is deployed, this manual will be shortly updated to a new format.

Issues with 3^rd party software should be referred to the software provider in the first instance.

Useful links:

Single Administrative Document (C88 (UK transit)) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Transit Manual Supplement - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Transit newsletters — HMRC updates - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

HMRC service availability and issues - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

HMRC will issue communications and update the service availability page to confirm when each service has successfully gone live.

If you are interested in exploring this topic further, you might find it worthwhile to consider the training courses and live clinics offered by Strong & Herd LLP: