Seafish will provide Brexit transition ‘helpline’ to support seafood businesses over the Christmas period

Seafish, the public body that supports the £10bn UK seafood industry, is running a helpline right through the Christmas period to support seafood businesses with last minute Brexit issues.

Operating from Monday 21 December 2020 to Monday 4 January 2021, the service will give seafood businesses experiencing specific issues around the end of the transition period continued access to direct support from regulation experts at Seafish.

To access the helpline, businesses can go online and book a time slot to receive a call-back from one of the team. Businesses should provide as much information as possible about the issues they are experiencing at the point of booking their slot.

The helpline is designed to complement the existing advice on the Brexit transition hub on the Seafish website. Seafood businesses are asked to refer to that guidance in the first instance, and then to use the helpline for further support or if they have a more specific question.

Fiona Wright, Head of Regulatory Affairs at Seafish, said:

“The helpline will allow us to continue to support seafood businesses during a period when we’d normally be closed and they may struggle to find help elsewhere. If you are having difficulties we would ask that you check the Brexit transition hub on our website first. It highlights the actions businesses need to take now and is regularly updated with new information and issues other seafood businesses are experiencing.

“If the guidance doesn’t address your issue then please use the helpline to get in touch. As always, we’ll do our best to provide support and resolve your issue.”

The helpline service replaces the usual contact details for Seafish’s regulation team for Monday 21 December 2020 to Monday 4 January 2021. To book a time slot visit https://calendly.com/seafish/30-minute-1-2-1

The Brexit transition hub on seafish.org focuses on practical actions seafood businesses should take now to continue to trade smoothly from 1 January 2021, when the transition period between the EU and the UK is set to end. It is structured to provide the most relevant guidance to businesses based on whether they import, export, process and distribute or catch and farm seafood. It also hosts other resources, such as a recording of Seafish’s recent webinar on preparing for new EU customs procedures hosted with the Institute of Export & International Trade.