Mammoth print job in works ahead of Brexit deadline

Preparations for a possible no deal Brexit will result in another huge print job, with all 27m households in the UK set to receive an ‘everything you need to know’ leaflet ahead of the 31 October deadline as part of an information blitz set to cost up to £10m.

Every household also received an information leaflet ahead of the 2016 EU Referendum, titled ‘Why the Government Believes That Voting to Remain in the EU is the Best Decision for the UK’,  at a cost of around £6m in printing and delivery.

At the time the print was procured by Williams Lea, which held the relevant government print vendor contract.

Since then, Cheshire-headquartered APS Group has taken over as the lead supplier in the Cabinet Office’s Crown Commercial Service (CCS) framework contract. APS won the single supplier lot for handling 'fully managed end-to-end print and digital solutions'.

It is likely the new leaflet will be contracted out to one or more specialist printers.

An industry source said: “It’s definitely out there, and it sounds like the job could be a stitched brochure format, similar to what it was before.

“At the same time, all the political parties are looking at producing collateral for a possible general election. People are starting to get things lined up. Either way, there’s going to be a lot of print coming off the back of this,” the source added.

The Sun reported that fresh prime minister Boris Johnson is preparing to spend up to £10m on a campaign across multiple media channels, including print. 

Some news outlets have reported that up to £100m could be spent on an 'information blitz'.

Meanwhile, chancellor of the exchequer Sajid Javid is expected to announce this week that spending on no deal contingency funding is to be increased by more than £1bn.

At the weekend Cabinet Office chief Michael Gove, who is in charge of preparing for no deal Brexit, wrote in the Sunday Times that the government is now "working on the assumption" of a no deal Brexit.

The Department for Exiting the European Union spent more than £32,000 with APS in June.