A new study from parcel delivery firm Evri has claimed that costly and complicated shipping processes for small businesses could cost the UK economy up to £40 billion. In the wake of the findings, Evri has called on the government to help remove barriers for UK SMEs to trade internationally.

The study, part of Evri’s inaugural UK SME report, found that 38 per cent of small companies have either reduced their international shipping or stopped exporting entirely, citing rising costs as a primary factor.

15 per cent of SMEs polled said they were not confident in their ability to understand the legalities of international shipping in the wake of significant changes to export processes in recent years due to factors such as Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Evri polled 500 UK SMEs on factors impacting the industry, with more than half of respondents (55 per cent) saying that easier EU exporting would aid business growth as a result of underlying opportunities that are currently not being unlocked.

Evri has said it intends to share the report’s findings with the Department for Business and Trade as part of its efforts to convince the UK government to work with the EU to enable parcel delivery companies to support SME exports by collecting VAT to supply directly to EU member states.

According to Evri, a more streamlined process would help businesses tap into an existing pool of carriers that already operate within global markets, something that could encourage SMEs to return to international trading, in turn bolstering the UK economy.

Evri Chief Executive Martijn de Lange said: “Businesses of all sizes continue to navigate through a turbulent economic landscape, and so it’s vital that we look to streamline processes that may be presenting blockers for them to expand into other markets.”

“Over the last five years, changes to shipping have brought additional complexities to exporting processes, and our research reveals in particular the drawbacks this has had for UK SMEs.”

“And that’s why we are now urging the UK government to take action to facilitate SMEs’ international growth. Changes to EU VAT regulations that deem parcel delivery companies as suppliers will help offload some of the responsibilities currently borne by SMEs, empowering operators such as Evri to truly support our customers on their growth journey.”

Henry Cartwright, director of SME at Evri, said: “At Evri, we work with over 2,000 SMEs, and we witness first-hand the contribution they make to industry. Enabling businesses to explore routes into international markets presents a huge growth opportunity, often instrumental to their overall expansion.

“And with our own data highlighting a 62 per cent increase in parcel volumes from our SME clients last year, we must not underestimate the financial impact that complicated exporting processes has on not only the individual businesses but also the wider UK economy.”