Guidance

January 2025 — NCTS Phase 5: multiple house consignments

Updated 20 January 2025

On 21 January 2025, all national administrators that are members of the Common Transit Convention (CTC) will implement the final version of New Computerised Transit System (NCTS) Phase 5. This is known as the final state rules.

In this update, you will find out how multiple house consignments will work in the final version of NCTS Phase 5. You can find all our transit updates on GOV.UK.

What is changing

During the current transition period to 21 January 2025, you cannot enter multiple consignors at consignment item level. Instead, you need to leave the consignor details blank and enter all consignee information at item level.

From 21 January 2025, house consignment functionality is being introduced for users of third-party software.

House consignments are sub-sections of a declaration where detailed information about the goods declared within that house consignment can be provided, such as:

• documentary reference numbers
• consignor details
• consignee details

What you need to know

Multiple house consignments are available for both the simplified and normal procedure. The goods can be declared according to the consignor (exporter) or consignee (importer) at house consignment level, rather than declaring the consignor or consignee at item level.

House consignments can be declared in 3 different ways:

1. Single consignor sending goods to multiple consignees.
2. Multiple consignors sending goods to a single consignee.
3. Multiple consignors sending goods to multiple consignees.

Once final state rules are in place, the size of the declaration will increase and allow you to declare up to 1999 house consignments on a single transit declaration. Each house consignment can contain up to 999 line items. However, the declaration cannot contain more than 1999 line items in total.

A transit declaration can only be started and ended at a single location. If a consignor wishes goods to be delivered directly to different consignees, then separate transit declarations must be completed.

A single transit declaration with multiple consignees must be ‘arrived’ and unloaded at a single location (such as an authorised consignee premises) as it cannot be ‘arrived’ and unloaded at multiple locations. This also applies for a normal procedure movement that will be presented or ‘arrived’ at a Border Force location. 

Where a movement contains groupage goods (for example, where goods are collected from multiple exporter locations on the way to the main depot from where the transit movement will start), the:

• exporter locations will be declared as house consignors
• goods items collected from each location will be listed under that house consignment

The following examples show how this functionality will work.

Single consignor sending goods to multiple consignees

A single consignment of goods may be intended for 10 consignees. In this instance:

• produce from a single supplier may be intended for distribution to 10 different supermarkets (consignees)
• the supplier is declared as the consignor for the whole consignment
• each supermarket is declared as the consignee in individual house consignments
• the goods to be moved to each consignee should be declared in their respective house consignments

In this situation, a single transit movement should be raised at the Office of Departure (or authorised consignee location). The entire movement must be ‘arrived’ as a single movement at one Office of Destination (or authorised consignee location). After the arrival process is started, unloading remarks are provided, and the goods released from transit, they can then be circulated for onward distribution. 

If the supplier wishes the goods to be moved to each of the 10 supermarkets directly (rather than sending the entire consignment to one location) then 10 separate transit declarations would need to be made, between the supplier and each of the 10 supermarkets.

Multiple consignors sending goods to a single consignee

A single consignment of goods may originate from multiple suppliers (consignors) and be moved by a haulier to a single consignee. For example, separate suppliers of homeware and clothing may be used by a retail company to move goods to a single retail establishment on a single transit movement.

In this instance, the haulier organising the movement of goods for the retail establishment would be the holder of the procedure and would raise a single transit declaration.

They would include the suppliers of the homeware and clothing as two house consignors and they would list the items they supplied at house consignment level.

The retail company would be the consignee (at consignment level). The transit movement could be completed as a normal or as a simplified movement.

Multiple consignors sending goods to multiple consignees

Traders may declare any combination of consignors and consignees across house consignments as needed. For example, a trader can use transit to consolidate goods from multiple suppliers (consignors) destined for multiple customers (consignees) by declaring a separate house consignment for each consignor and consignee combination.

In this instance, the loads should be consolidated at a single location and be raised as a single movement at the Office of Departure (or authorised consignee location).

On arrival, the entire movement must be ‘arrived’ as a single movement at the Office of Destination (or authorised consignee location).

After the arrival process is initiated and the unloading remarks provided, the goods can be released from transit and circulated for onward distribution to the other consignees.

When your declaration may be rejected

If only a single consignor or consignee is being declared in a movement, this must be provided at the overall consignment level. This is because it applies to all goods declared across all house consignments. If you do not provide this information at the correct level, your declaration will be rejected due to contravention of technical rules C0001, C0542, and R0506.

If a declaration reaches more than 8MB in size, a rejection message will be received. The consignment information will need to be split down and resubmitted as multiple declarations.

Further updates

Our next communication about business continuity and fallback will be issued on 17 January 2025.