UK Government Export Services

Department for International Trade

The Department for International Trade (DIT) is the government department that offers practical help and advice for businesses trading internationally. It works with UK-based businesses to ensure their success in international markets, and encourage the best overseas companies to look to the UK as their global partner of choice. DIT has professional advisers both within the UK and across more than 100 international markets, and has a customer commitment to helping its UK and international customers by providing a range of services, to a high standard and improve customer service by listening to customer feedback.

DIT aims to:

• Deliver measurable improvement in the business performance of Department for International Trade customers, with an emphasis on innovative and R&D active firms
• Increase the contribution of foreign direct investment to knowledge intensive economic activity in the UK, including R&D
• Deliver a measurable improvement in the reputation of the UK in leading overseas markets as the international business partner of choice

For more information, please visit their webpage here. 

Open to Export

Open to export is a free online business community, designed to bring you best-practice knowledge and advice, helping you to successfully enter new markets and operate overseas. This service is designed to provide a single source of advice, information and intelligence for UK exporters seeking help. The system will enable you to get feedback directly and quickly from government organisations and the business community, including existing exporters and relevant services providers such as lawyers, accountants and trade associations.

Open to export will help you to:

• Explore potential international opportunities for your business
• Get bespoke answers from experts and other experienced exporters
• Access practical insights on important overseas issues
• Connect with experience UK businesses and service providers
• Find relevant products, services and events
• Share your experience with other companies looking to go global

For more information, please visit their webpage here. 

UK Export Finance

UK Export Finance (UKEF) is the UK’s export credit agency and a government department, working alongside the Department for International Trade. They can support exports for any size of company and across all sectors, from capital goods to services and intangibles such as intellectual property. Their export finance managers provide free and impartial consultations. They help UK companies to check they are getting the appropriate support and, if not, explore how to bridge any gaps.

UKEF helps UK companies to:

• Win export contracts by providing attractive financing terms to their buyers
• Fulfil contracts by supporting working capital loans
• Get paid by insuring against buyer default

Find out more about their products and services and read their success stories, describing real-life examples of our support. To find out more, please visit their website here.