The case of the missing £5.1m 

Last year, we worked with a well-known clothing brand under severe financial pressure. Their suppliers were demanding payments, cash flow was drying up, and rumours of administration were already swirling. 

Within hours of analysing their Customs Declaration Service (CDS) data through our analytical tool (CAT360), we uncovered something remarkable: £5.1 million in duty reclaims that could have been rightfully returned to the business as a cash injection. The discrepancy came from missed preference claims under Free Trade Agreements, as they had not declared their imported goods correctly.   

To put that in context, £5.1m wasn’t just a number on a screen; it represented months of breathing space, supplier confidence, and potentially enough runway to negotiate a restructuring. 

But the timing was against them. Administrators were called in before the reclaim process could even begin. 

When we raised the issue, the administrators simply couldn’t grasp the concept that millions of pounds could be reclaimed from historic customs declarations. The opportunity slipped away, leaving creditors, employees, and suppliers worse off than they might have been. 

Why is This Overlooked? 

Customs planning is niche. It doesn’t sit neatly in a balance sheet line item and, unless you’re steeped in trade compliance, you wouldn’t even know these reclaims exist.  Yet the reality is that duty reclaims are often: 

• Substantial: running into the millions for import-heavy businesses because claims can go back up to three years. 
• Quick to identify:  tools like CAT360 can scan thousands of declarations in hours. 
• Cash in hand: these aren’t “theoretical” savings, but real money that can flow back into a business, with HMRC sending the money to the business’s bank account. 

For insolvency practitioners, customs are one of the most underused levers in distressed situations. 

The Lesson for Insolvency & Restructuring Teams 

The clothing brand’s story is a cautionary tale: sometimes the money is hidden in plain sight, but the window to access it closes fast. 

For restructuring professionals, the lesson is clear: 

• Don’t dismiss customs as “too complex.” 
• Bring in the right expertise early, ideally before administration is triggered. 
• Add customs reclaims to the standard checklist when assessing a distressed business.

The difference between administration today and survival tomorrow may not be a new investor, a complex refinancing, or a fire-sale of assets, it could be sitting quietly in the customs ledger.