£111M later, frictionless post-Brexit border dream 'brought to early closure'
(2026/02/17)
- Reference: 1771343824
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2026/02/17/uk_single_trade_window/
- Source link:
The UK's long-promised "Single Trade Window" has quietly run out of steam after burning through more than £111 million ($150 million), with officials confirming the program has been "brought to early closure."
Freedom of Information (FOI) responses obtained by TaxWatch and shared with The Register suggest the flagship border digitization scheme is effectively on ice. HM Revenue & Customs says there are no staff working on the project and no spending on it this financial year, despite total costs reaching £111.44 million. The Treasury has gone further, saying the program was "brought to early closure," even as officials insist policy work continues somewhere in the background.
"The delivery of the Single Trade Window (STW) for the financial year 25/26 has been paused," the FOI response reads. "As a result, there are currently no HMRC staff assigned to the operational delivery of the STW programme, nor has any expenditure been incurred for its delivery during this period."
[1]
In a separate document seen by The Register , HMRC also confirmed the technical delivery contract, awarded to Deloitte, has been closed, another sign the program is effectively defunct despite years of promises that a one-stop digital portal for traders was just around the corner.
[2]
[3]
The STW was supposed to make import and export paperwork less of a slog by allowing businesses to submit data once rather than switching between government systems. Ministers long pitched it as a cornerstone of post-Brexit border modernization, part of the plan to build the "world's most effective border."
The government [4]handed Deloitte the border technology contract in 2023 , but the National Audit Office later [5]warned HMRC it needed to be a stronger "intelligent client" when dealing with major suppliers – a warning the latest disclosures suggest didn't get much traction.
[6]
TaxWatch, an investigative think tank focused on tax compliance and policy, said the episode is a reminder of how messy large public sector IT projects can get – and why transparency matters when they do. In a post on Tuesday, the group noted that while HMRC remains remarkably efficient overall, collecting nearly £1 trillion in revenue last year at a cost of about £5.7 billion, big transformation projects still have a habit of going sideways.
"The UK's tax and customs administration remains amazing value for money," TaxWatch director Mike Lewis told The Register . "But it's also the case that most major projects, at HMRC and elsewhere, end up having costs and delivery times considerably greater than first envisaged. Contractors failing to deliver a key border project doesn't bode well at a time when HMRC is trying to tackle major challenges to trade taxation."
[7]Why does the UK keep getting beaten up by IT suppliers?
[8]UK government spends another £1B on cloud migration and services
[9]UK government can't kick consultancy habit despite promises
[10]Just 15 buyers are in charge of £14B in UK central government tech spending
Businesses that had hoped the system would eventually smooth border processes and cut down on admin are unlikely to be thrilled, despite officials insisting the program has merely been paused and that policy development is ongoing. With no delivery staff, no active spending, and the main contract wrapped up, the reality looks a lot like a project that has slipped quietly into limbo.
"If there's no spending, no staff working on delivering the project operationally, and traders haven't been given any indication about when it's coming, then it's very difficult to read that as anything other than the project being cancelled," Lewis said.
The broader lesson, according to TaxWatch, is not that HMRC is failing, but that major digital transformations need clear accountability when they falter. The UK's tax and customs system underpins everything from public services to national defense, making it essential that the government learns from costly missteps rather than quietly moving on.
[11]
"Quietly shelving a key tax and trade project, while ministers continue to tell Parliament it's still on its way, prevents lessons being learned," Lewis concluded. ®
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[4] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/04/deloitte_uk_border_contract
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/20/hmrc_must_grow_intelligent_client/
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[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/28/uk_govt_it_suppliers/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/03/uk_gov_cloud_services/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/24/uk_government_consultancy_spending_grows/
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[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Freedom of Information (FOI) responses obtained by TaxWatch and shared with The Register suggest the flagship border digitization scheme is effectively on ice. HM Revenue & Customs says there are no staff working on the project and no spending on it this financial year, despite total costs reaching £111.44 million. The Treasury has gone further, saying the program was "brought to early closure," even as officials insist policy work continues somewhere in the background.
"The delivery of the Single Trade Window (STW) for the financial year 25/26 has been paused," the FOI response reads. "As a result, there are currently no HMRC staff assigned to the operational delivery of the STW programme, nor has any expenditure been incurred for its delivery during this period."
[1]
In a separate document seen by The Register , HMRC also confirmed the technical delivery contract, awarded to Deloitte, has been closed, another sign the program is effectively defunct despite years of promises that a one-stop digital portal for traders was just around the corner.
[2]
[3]
The STW was supposed to make import and export paperwork less of a slog by allowing businesses to submit data once rather than switching between government systems. Ministers long pitched it as a cornerstone of post-Brexit border modernization, part of the plan to build the "world's most effective border."
The government [4]handed Deloitte the border technology contract in 2023 , but the National Audit Office later [5]warned HMRC it needed to be a stronger "intelligent client" when dealing with major suppliers – a warning the latest disclosures suggest didn't get much traction.
[6]
TaxWatch, an investigative think tank focused on tax compliance and policy, said the episode is a reminder of how messy large public sector IT projects can get – and why transparency matters when they do. In a post on Tuesday, the group noted that while HMRC remains remarkably efficient overall, collecting nearly £1 trillion in revenue last year at a cost of about £5.7 billion, big transformation projects still have a habit of going sideways.
"The UK's tax and customs administration remains amazing value for money," TaxWatch director Mike Lewis told The Register . "But it's also the case that most major projects, at HMRC and elsewhere, end up having costs and delivery times considerably greater than first envisaged. Contractors failing to deliver a key border project doesn't bode well at a time when HMRC is trying to tackle major challenges to trade taxation."
[7]Why does the UK keep getting beaten up by IT suppliers?
[8]UK government spends another £1B on cloud migration and services
[9]UK government can't kick consultancy habit despite promises
[10]Just 15 buyers are in charge of £14B in UK central government tech spending
Businesses that had hoped the system would eventually smooth border processes and cut down on admin are unlikely to be thrilled, despite officials insisting the program has merely been paused and that policy development is ongoing. With no delivery staff, no active spending, and the main contract wrapped up, the reality looks a lot like a project that has slipped quietly into limbo.
"If there's no spending, no staff working on delivering the project operationally, and traders haven't been given any indication about when it's coming, then it's very difficult to read that as anything other than the project being cancelled," Lewis said.
The broader lesson, according to TaxWatch, is not that HMRC is failing, but that major digital transformations need clear accountability when they falter. The UK's tax and customs system underpins everything from public services to national defense, making it essential that the government learns from costly missteps rather than quietly moving on.
[11]
"Quietly shelving a key tax and trade project, while ministers continue to tell Parliament it's still on its way, prevents lessons being learned," Lewis concluded. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aZSeshdzBnmiQlgA9oJ3WQAAAck&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
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[4] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/04/deloitte_uk_border_contract
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/20/hmrc_must_grow_intelligent_client/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aZSeshdzBnmiQlgA9oJ3WQAAAck&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/28/uk_govt_it_suppliers/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/03/uk_gov_cloud_services/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/24/uk_government_consultancy_spending_grows/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/06/ukgov_has_only_15_buyers/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aZSeshdzBnmiQlgA9oJ3WQAAAck&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
wolfetone
It can't be that bad anyway since we're getting £350 million a day back for the NHS.
Haven't we?
Jason Bloomberg
Plus that £150 billion a year, almost £3 billion a week, trade deal brexiteers said we could secure with China.
Brexit Opportunities Minister, Rees-Mogg, told us brexit would add £135 billion to the economy between 2020 and 2025, and £40 billion a year after that.
Anonymous Coward
But even such waste has political value as it adds to the national GDP - of which any increase is a sign of successful management of the nation's finances.
It's one reason why the black market is unpopular with them - not only does it deprive HMRC of tax revenue but it doesn't add to GDP, For example: if you pay me £100 to do a job for you, I pay Bill £100 to do a job for me, and Bill pays you £100 for a job you did for him, and assuming we all declare it as taxable income, HMRC gets its share (£60 if we all pay at 20%) but the national GDP is increased by £300. Conversely, if we each agree that we're each returning favour for favour and no money changes hands, both HMRC and GDP are unaffected.
Doctor Syntax
"major digital transformations need clear accountability when they falter"
Sir Humphry would have objected in the strongest possible terms - A Bennite solution, even.
Another one of Boris Johnson's great announcements
Dan 55
I'm surprised it managed to stagger on so long.
I suppose that we should be thankful that it is only £111M that they have managed to spaff up the wall before 'cancelling' the project.
We've seen other UK Gov projects just continue to accumulate overspend into the billions, and still produce a result of little to no value.