UK importers and exporters are currently experiencing disruption due to ongoing issues with HMRC’s Customs Declaration Service (CDS), which is impacting customs clearance activity across the UK.
At present, import declarations submitted via CDS are facing significant delays in receiving responses. In some cases, confirmations are taking up to 45 minutes, compared to the usual near-immediate response. More concerningly, some import submissions are not receiving any response at all.
Export declarations are also affected, with no responses currently being returned via the system.
These issues are not isolated to a single provider and are affecting multiple customs brokers and freight forwarders across the market. As a result, customs clearance timelines may be extended, which could lead to knock-on delays for collections, deliveries, and onward movements.
Our customs team continues to prepare and queue all declarations as normal and will submit or backtrack entries as soon as HMRC confirms the issue has been resolved. We are monitoring the situation closely and will continue to act promptly as soon as system functionality improves.
It’s also worth noting that this disruption may impact shipments where freight movements are handled by one party and customs clearance by another, as CDS performance affects the wider customs ecosystem.
HMRC is aware of the issue and is actively working to resolve it. Service updates can be monitored directly via HMRC’s official CDS service status page.
If you have any urgent shipments or concerns about specific consignments, our team is on hand to discuss the latest position and provide guidance.
Please note: This information is correct and relevant as of 14:00 on 15/12/2025 and is subject to change as HMRC system updates are issued.