How to submit a full application for round 1 of the Adding Value grant (closed)

Question 1

Check your records on the Rural Payments service

Accepted Answer

Make sure that your business is registered with the Rural Payments service and has a Single Business Identifier (SBI). The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) cannot process your application without this.

Your application details must match your records on the Rural Payments service. If they do not, follow the guidance to update your records.

These details must be up to date:

email address
business name
business postcode
full name
permissions

To check these on the Rural Payments service, you will need to find your main SBI and your Customer Reference Number (CRN). If you get other payments from us, like the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), you will find your SBI on any letters you have had from us. To find out how to find your CRN in the Rural Payments service call the Rural Payments helpline on 03000 200 301.

If you are an agent submitting the application on behalf of a customer, you should make sure that you have the correct permissions to use the Rural Payments service. See our YouTube clip on how to add someone to your business and amend your permission on the Rural Payment service.

Question 2

How to register on the Rural Payments service

Accepted Answer

If you are not registered on Rural Payments, then you will need to register. To register for the Rural Payments service, please call our helpline on 03000 200 301 and select the options to speak to the Rural Payments team.

For information on how we handle personal data, go to Rural Payments Agency personal information charter.

Question 3

Make your full application

Accepted Answer

You will need to fill in 2 forms to make your application:

a Microsoft Word application form
a Microsoft Excel appendix spreadsheet

Only fill in the application form and spreadsheet provided, as we cannot accept information in any other format.

Complete the whole form and give full and clear answers to make your application strong. Your project forecast should be realistic to achieve.

When to apply

You can apply at any time before 11:59pm on 31 January 2024.

Do not send your application before you have all the required information. RPA cannot process an incomplete application.

RPA will reject any application that misses the published deadline and has the right to change the deadline. Check the details on the Farming Transformation Fund page.

You must sign your Grant Funding Agreement (GFA) before you start your project.

Submit your application

You need to email the completed application form and appendix spreadsheet to FTF@rpa.gov.uk.

Save your application form as a Microsoft Word document and your appendix spreadsheet as a Microsoft Excel document in the 97-2003 Workbook (.xls) format.

Attach the documents to an email and send it from the email address you give us in Section 1 of the application form.

If an agent or consultant sends the form for you, they must copy you into the email (using the email address you give us in Section 1).

The email address(es) used to submit the application must match with those held in the Rural Payments service, with permission to make legal changes or full permissions for the applicant business.

Sending supporting documents

You need to attach all supporting documents to the email you send with your application forms.

Do not send them by post or save your documents in online storage systems with links to access them.

Emails should be a maximum of 20MB. You may need to send several smaller emails. If you do, number each email, for example ‘Project reference number: application 1 of 3’.

Your project reference number will be on the email we send to you inviting you to submit a full application.

If you have any problems completing the full application, contact our helpline on 03000 200 301 and select the option for the Farming Transformation Fund.

Permissions in the Rural Payments service

You can give other people access to your business in the Rural Payments service. You must have ‘Full permissions’ and the other person must be registered to give them access to your business details on the Rural Payments service. This is linked to the CRN number.

If you are an agent applying on behalf of a customer, or you are not the customer registered on Rural Payments, you must have permission to make legal changes or have full permissions for the business in Rural Payments.

There is guidance on updating your details in the Rural Payment service.

If you do not have Microsoft Excel

You can use free Open Office software to complete the application appendix, as long as you save it in the Microsoft Excel (.xls) format.

To do this:

select ‘Save as’ when saving the appendix spreadsheet - the ‘Save as’ box will open
select the format for the document in the ‘Save as type’ box - select the format type Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP/2003 (.xls)
click ‘Save’
a dialog box may open asking you to ‘Confirm file format’ - if that happens, select ‘Confirm’

Question 4

How to fill in your full application form

Accepted Answer

Fill in every section on the form unless the instructions say you can either type ‘N/A’ or move to the next question.

Section 1: Applicant details

Please provide details of the business applying for the grant. This should be the same business on the stage 1 online application that was invited to submit a full application.

If you’re filling in this form on behalf of a business or organisation where you are not the owner, you should be a director or partner.

Question 1.1

Enter the project reference number from the top of your ‘invitation to submit a full application’ email.

Question 1.2

Tell us the full name of your business or organisation. This is the name used on your annual financial accounts and your business bank account. It should also be the name of the business or organisation that is registered with us on the Rural Payments service.

Question 1.3

Enter your SBI number here. You must make sure that the SBI number and business details registered with us on the Rural Payments service match with the SBI number, applicant business name, applicant name, applicant email address, address and postcode entered on the application form. If they do not, we will not be able to process your application.

Question 1.4

Enter the full address of the applicant business. If the organisation has more than one address, it should be the address that all postal correspondence should be sent to.

Question 1.5

Enter your title, first name and surname. The applicant is normally the owner, a director or partner of the applicant business. The applicant’s name on the application form must match with the name registered on the Rural Payments service for the applicant business. The applicant must be someone with permission to make legal changes or full permissions for the business on the Rural Payments service.

Question 1.5a

Select your answer from the drop-down list.

Question 1.6

Enter the email address we should use to contact you if we have any queries about your application. Please provide an email address that you check regularly as we will use email as our main way of contacting you. This should be your email address and not the one for your agent or manager, which you can give at Section 2.

Question 1.7

Enter your mobile phone number in case we need to speak to you.

Question 1.8

Enter your business phone number. It’s helpful for us to have 2 different contact numbers should we need them.

Question 1.9

We gathered some information from you when you used the online checker. Please review the answers you gave about the legal status of the business, business activity and business name. This will be recorded in the email you received after submitting your details.

If you select ‘no’ from the drop-down list to this question, you’re confirming that the answers you gave in the online checker to all these questions have not changed.

If you select ‘yes’ from the drop-down list to this question, you are confirming that one or more of the answers you gave in the online checker to these questions have changed or are incorrect.

Question 1.9a

If your answer at 1.9 is ‘yes’, please tell us of the changes to the application business details since you completed the online checker. The comments boxes throughout the form will expand as you write your answer.

If there have been a lot or big changes to any of the applicant business details which have not already been discussed and agreed with your RPA contact, your project may no longer be eligible to proceed.

Question 1.10

Enter the most recent business turnover, balance sheet total (the total of all assets) and the financial year end date. If the business is less than one financial year old and has not filed any financial accounts yet, you can leave this blank.

We need the last 3 consecutive and most recent years of full audited or unaudited accounts.

You need to make sure that you send a full set of accounts, including profit and loss, balance sheet, the cover title and introduction pages. Include the pages which disclose all the notes to the accounts if there are any. We cannot accept ‘abbreviated accounts’.

Email your business accounts as PDF documents if you can.

Use the comments box on the application form to tell us if your business accounts do not meet these requirements. For example, some small businesses may not produce full sets of accounts, but we’d still expect to see a profit and loss and balance sheet summary.

We cannot accept ‘abridged accounts’ from small or micro companies and Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) as they do not contain the information on turnover that we need to assess eligibility and financial viability. If you produce ‘abridged accounts’, you need to provide a statement with them which shows turnover, cost of sales and direct costs, and gross profit for the 3 most recent accounting periods. This statement must be endorsed by an independent and suitably qualified accountant.

If you’re a new business (you have not yet started trading or have been trading for less than 2 years) or are self-employed, explain how you will have the financial capacity to successfully deliver the project. This will need to be evidenced by one or more of the following supporting documents:

latest tax returns
an opening statement from a professionally qualified independent accountant that includes planned financing (loans or equity invested into the business), expected income and operating expenses
draft financial statements or management accounts showing financial performance during the early period of trading

Question 1.11

We need to know if your business is linked to other businesses, to understand the structure and size of the business applying.

Businesses are considered as linked when:

one business holds a majority of the shareholders’ or members’ voting rights in another business
one business is entitled to appoint or remove a majority of the administrative, management or supervisory body of another
a contract between the business, or a provision in the memorandum or articles of association of one of the businesses, enables one to exercise a dominant influence over the other
one business is able, by agreement, to exercise sole control over a majority of shareholders’ or members’ voting rights in another

Businesses can also be linked through ownership by individuals, such as partners or through shareholding. Where this type of ownership is through one or more individuals who could work together, the enterprises involved are considered as linked if they operate on the same or adjacent markets. Family links are enough to conclude that individuals are working together.

If you are unsure if there is a link between the applicant business and any others, you should call our helpline on 03000 200 301 and select the option for the Farming Transformation Fund.

Question 1.11a

If your answer at 1.11 is ‘yes’, please tell us the name of any linked businesses.

You must send us the latest financial accounts for all linked businesses. If you are part of a group structure (a parent or subsidiary company) you must also provide consolidated group accounts.

Note that where the applicant business is a processing business there may be some overlap with the answer to question 3.2a.

Question 1.12

Using the drop-down box, tell us if your business or organisation has any related or linked businesses in Northern Ireland. Funding from this grant must solely be used for the purposes of England business operations. Monies from this grant cannot be used to cross-subsidise any related, linked, parent, subsidiary, partnership, joint venture businesses or operations based in Northern Ireland.

Question 1.12a

If your answer at 1.12 is ‘yes’, please provide the details of the businesses or operations.

Question 1.13

Using the drop-down box, tell us if your business is part of a fruit and vegetable producer organisation (PO). Find more information about POs.

Question 1.13a

If your answer at 1.13 is ‘yes’, please enter the name of the PO of which you are a member.

If your business is receiving funds from the Fruit and Vegetables Aid Scheme for this project, we will not be able to offer a Farming Transformation Fund grant.

Question 1.14

Complete the drop-down boxes to provide information on the business principals, selecting either ‘yes’ or ‘no’ (business principals means any business owner, partner or director). If you answer ‘no’ to all 4 questions, go to Section 2.

Question 1.14a

If your answer at 1.14 is ‘yes’, enter additional details. This will not automatically exclude you from receiving grant funding.

Section 2: Agent details

Question 2.1

Use the drop-down box to tell us if you have used an agent, consultant or business manager to help complete your application. If ‘no’, go to Section 3.

Questions 2.2 to 2.7

Provide their contact details.

Your agent must have permission to make legal changes or full permissions for the applicant business as detailed on the Rural Payments service.

Section 3: Business details

Question 3.1

Select one of the options that best represents the legal status of the business or organisation.

Question 3.2

Select the best fit for your main business activity from the drop-down list. Eligible applicants for these grants must either be growers, producers or a processing business at least 50% owned by agricultural or horticultural producers.

Question 3.2a

Where the applicant business is a processing business you need to clearly explain and provide supporting information showing how it is owned at least 50% by producers. For example, the accounts for the applicant processing business may give the names of the business owners and the proportion of the business they each own. You will need to show that these people who own at least half the processing business are also owners of a producer business. The accounts for the producer business may show these same people as owners of the producer business. Please clearly explain this relationship with detail of the percentage ownership and provide a copy of the accounts for the producer business.

Note that where the applicant business is a processing business there may be some overlap with the answer to question 1.11a.

Question 3.3

Select an answer from the drop-down list. Select ‘yes’ if the applicant business has been trading for less than 2 years, or if it is not trading yet.

Question 3.4

Enter the Companies House, VAT registration and Registered Charity numbers if the applicant business has them. If it does not, write ‘N/A’ in the boxes.

Section 4: Project overview

Question 4.1

Enter the name of your project. This should be the same as the project name you gave on the online application, and as recorded in the confirmation email you received. Your full application should be the same project as the one you outlined in the stage 1: online application.

This project name will be included in correspondence and in any publicity.

Question 4.2

We need to know your project timescales. Select your proposed start date and completion date of the project from the drop-down boxes. The start date is when you intend to begin work on your project and incur eligible costs. Remember to allow at least 3 months after you submit your full application, to allow time for the appraisal and decision-making process.

The project completion date is when you’ll have finished your project, incurred all costs and submitted your final grant claim.

We understand it may be difficult to forecast your completion date at this stage in the process. Use information from your suppliers or builders to help you work out how long it will take for you to complete the project works, construction and installation. Once you know when the project is likely to be finished build in some additional time to pay all the invoices and prepare and submit your grant claim. This typically takes one to 3 months.

You should be realistic in how long the project will take. Applicants often underestimate this. You need to be cautious with your timescales, rather than over-optimistic.

Question 4.3

This grant is for businesses where the project activity is located in England. We need to know the location of the project so we can check the project is eligible.

If the project is at a different place to the address you gave at question 1.4, please give the full address details here, including the postcode. If you do not know the exact postcode for the land where your project is located, please provide the postcode for the nearest address and explain this in the application form. We understand that some projects may have multiple locations and addresses. Provide the details of all the locations of the project activity. You may find it helpful to identify the project location(s) on a map and submit this with your application.

Question 4.4

We want to understand how your business started (including how it evolved from an eligible grower or producer business), how it has grown, and how or why you identified the proposed project. Tell us the history of the business and how this project fits with your future plans.

If your business is not yet trading, or has been trading for less than 2 years, explain the reason you started the business, the business structure, and what stage it is at in terms of trading history, size and potential growth.

Try to use no more than 200 words in your answer.

Question 4.5

Tell us more to help us understand the nature of the project. For example, is it about enabling cheese-making, vegetable packing or fibre processing. Describe what the project is, what it will do and what it will achieve. Tell us what you are currently doing and what you are going to do, buy, build, install or create with the grant funding.

The project you are applying for must be the same as the one you described in the online checker. If there have been minor changes to the project you can tell us about these at question 5.11.

Try to use no more than 200 words in your answer.

Section 5: Project costs, funding and quotes

You should fill in tab B ‘Costs & suppliers’ and tab C ‘Funding & claims’ in the appendix spreadsheet before answering these questions.

Use the figures from the Project Cost Summary table in tab C to fill in this section.

You must make sure the figures are the same on the full application (Word) form and the appendix (Excel) spreadsheet.

Question 5.1

Enter the total project cost in £ (this should be to 2 decimal places, for example, £200,000.00). This is the total eligible expenditure (costs) that you are applying for grant funding for and should not include any other costs that you have identified as ‘non-grant funded expenditure’ at question 5.5.

This should be the total net cost unless your business is unable to reclaim full VAT and you wish to include VAT in your grant request. For further guidance on VAT, see question 5.7.

Question 5.2

Tell us how much grant you are applying for in £ (this should be to 2 decimal places, for example, £65,000.00).

The minimum grant you can apply for is £25,000 (40% of £62,500), and the maximum grant is £300,000 per applicant business.

Question 5.3

Enter the total amount of private match funding required for the project in £ (grant funded expenditure only).

The maximum grant, or public money, you can apply for is 40% of the eligible costs of your project. You need to fund the remaining project costs with private money, such as business savings, a bank loan or overdraft.

You cannot use public money (such as other grant funding from government or local authorities) as your match funding.

Question 5.4

Tell us the source of your private match funding. This might be from own business funds, a bank loan, an overdraft, a personal loan from family or friends, a director’s loan, own savings or a combination.

Use the drop down ‘yes’ or ‘no’ boxes to indicate the sources of all project funding you’ve secured or have conditional agreement for (for example, subject to the grant being awarded for the project). If you select ‘other’ please tell us about the funding source in the box below.

You need to provide evidence of the match funding with your application. This could be an email, letter or copy of a commercial loan agreement, which needs to show:

where the funding is coming from (a named person or organisation)
how much the funding is for (the amount is enough to fund the project)
who the funding is being offered to
the date of the offer

If you are funding the project from other sources, such as own savings, personal loans from family or friends, director’s loans or cash reserves within the business, you also need to be able to show how much and where it is coming from. For example, a bank or building society statement that shows the funds are available to the business. If the funding for the project is part of a larger mortgage or loan, please explain how you will be able to make use of this facility and show that there are enough funds available for the project.

If you buy an item for the project using lease or hire purchase, you must own the item outright before you can claim any money towards it. This means that before you claim any grant you need to have paid all the instalments and can show that you fully own it.

Question 5.5

Enter the cost of any non-grant funded expenditure in £. These are costs that you are not applying for grant funding for but are still required as part of your project. For example, ineligible solar panels to provide energy towards the project equipment.

Question 5.5a

Tell us how you’ll cover any non-grant funded expenditure. These costs will need to be met by the business.

Question 5.6

Grant funding is paid in arrears at agreed stages. We expect you to make a maximum of 3 claims over the course of the project.

Explain how you will make sure there is enough funding in place to pay the project costs in full before each grant claim is submitted, allowing time for claims to be processed and paid. For example, if there is headroom within your overdraft or normal business cash flow.

Question 5.7

Where VAT can be recovered from HMRC, it should not be included in your project costs. Please explain here if you have included VAT in your project costs and why it is not recoverable. This would normally be if your business is not VAT registered.

If you are including VAT in your project costs and grant request, you will need to provide a letter from a professionally qualified independent accountant to confirm that you are not VAT registered.

A professionally qualified accountant is defined as a member of:

Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) or the Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (CCAB) constituent bodies
Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)
Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)
Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA)
Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS)
Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI)

Use the table below to help you decide whether you can include VAT in your project costs or not.

VAT status	Outcome
You are registered for VAT and making regular returns of VAT to HMRC	You will not be able to include VAT in your project costs or grant request because it is recoverable in full on VAT returns
You are not registered for VAT because your business is below the threshold for supplies	You will be able to include VAT in your project costs and grant request provided this status can be verified by RPA with your full application
You are not registered for VAT because you opted to join the agricultural flat rate scheme instead	You will not be able to include VAT in your project costs or grant request because the flat rate scheme you have chosen to join is a simplification instead of registering for VAT. The terms of the scheme mean that you receive compensation for not being able to recover VAT paid by your business by retaining a flat rate addition (FRA) added to sales invoices in respect of supplies made to VAT registered customers
You are registered for VAT but you have also opted to join a flat rate scheme	You will not be able to include VAT in your project costs or grant request because the flat rate scheme you have chosen to join is a simplification which compensates you for not being able to reclaim input VAT. In addition, you are able to reclaim input VAT on certain capital assets costing more than £2,000 through your VAT returns
You are registered for VAT and making exempt supplies meaning that not all VAT paid can be recovered on returns of VAT to HMRC	You will not be able to include VAT in your project costs or grant request because at the time of application you will only be able to estimate the non-recoverable VAT. The final position will only be known after the grant has been paid and your project is complete

Question 5.8

You need to provide the required number of quotes, tenders or references to catalogue listings for all items included in your application to show how you will get best value for it.

A quote is a fixed price for the item and the price charged by the supplier cannot increase. If suppliers are not prepared to provide quotes, you can get estimates from them instead. Note that the cost of the item can change if you are given an estimate. The guidance for estimates is the same as for quotes.

You need to provide details of all the evidence of costs on tab B ‘Costs & suppliers’ in the application appendix spreadsheet.

The table below explains how many quotes, catalogue references and formal tenders are required, depending on the value of an item.

Value of items or service	How to show value for money
Less than £5,000	1 quote, or reference to 1 catalogue listing (including online suppliers)
£5,000-£50,000	3 quotes, or references to 3 catalogue listings (including online suppliers)
More than £50,000	3 quotes, or 3 formal competitive tenders* where required

*These are viewed as quotes that suppliers put together within an identified timeframe and that follow a detailed and itemised specification provided by the applicant.

You should be able to provide the necessary 3 quotes from different suppliers (this is not the same as different manufacturers). You can source these internationally as well as from inside the UK.

If you have not provided the required number of quotes, references to catalogue listings or tenders for any item included in your project costs, explain why. If there are no other suppliers available, either nationally or globally, you should provide written evidence (such as emails or letters) of ‘declines’ from at least 3 potential suppliers that you have approached.

You also need to explain how you have assessed that the cost of the item is value for money and provide evidence of this with your application.

All quotes or tenders must:

come from different, independent suppliers who are not linked to each other or to your business through shared ownership, or control
be sourced independently by you or your agent - a supplier cannot source quotes from other suppliers on your behalf
include a detailed and itemised breakdown of costs
include the supplier’s business name, address (including postcode) and telephone number
be comparable with each other in terms of quality, size, quantity, units and specification for every item
be dated and obtained within the last 9 months
be addressed to the applicant business or agent (containing the business name, business or project address, if different, and postcode) - if the quote is addressed to your agent, it must clearly reference the project and its location

If a quote is emailed to you from a supplier as an attachment, you should also send the original covering email showing time, date and who sent it.

Any references to a catalogue listing must be sent as screen shots and they must include the:

date on which it was printed or copied
item description and the price
name of the company or catalogue
page number or webpage

All quotes, catalogue listings and tenders must be genuine and sourced from genuine suppliers who are actively trading. Checks will be carried out to make sure that quotes, catalogue listings and tenders submitted to support an application have not been made up or changed in any way.

We will also check that there has been no collusion between suppliers, or between applicants and their agent or suppliers, in relation to supplying supporting quotes or tenders. Any attempt made to provide false or misleading information to us could lead to prosecution.

If the supplier is VAT registered and will be charging VAT, you need to provide the supplier’s VAT number, if it is not on the quote. If the supplier is a limited company, you must provide the company registration number, if it’s not on the quote. You should enter these on tab B ‘Costs & suppliers’ in the application appendix spreadsheet.

We check value for money by comparing all quotes in £ sterling. If you’re providing quotes in currency other than in £ sterling, you will need to convert these to £ sterling in your application. You can use HMRC exchange rates for the conversion. If you are converting from other currency to £ sterling, please be aware that any fees including non-sterling transaction fees are not eligible for grant funding. You will need to exclude these from the value being converted.

If you are proposing to use a formal tendering process, you must contact us to discuss this. We will make sure this is appropriate for your project and timescales. You need to send copies of the email(s) showing you contacted us about using a formal tendering process and it was agreed that you could.

If the quotes or tenders do not meet the requirements, you will need to submit revised quotes or tenders that do. We may remove the item from consideration if it is not supported by valid quotes or tenders.

Best value quote

We want applicants to use the best value quote. This means getting the best value on the market by using the cheapest supplier for each project item. Where a more expensive quote has been selected as the preferred supplier, we will base any grant on the value of the cheapest quote only. You can still use a more expensive supplier, but you will need to fund the difference in cost.

Questions 5.9 and 5.9a

Select ‘yes’ or ‘no’ as your answer from the drop-down option to confirm if you or your business is connected in any way or has an association with any of the businesses providing quotes for the project items.

If you answer ‘yes’ you need to identify the suppliers and explain the connection. This includes links through ownership as set out at question 1.11 or any other association, for example if the supplier business is owned by a family member or by an employee of the applicant business.

It is important that you declare this to us. If you do not tell us about an association with a supplier, we may refuse funding.

Questions 5.10 and 5.10a

Select ‘yes’ or ‘no’ as your answer from the drop-down option to tell us if you plan to purchase any second-hand items for the project. If you answer ‘yes’ provide details of the project items that you plan to purchase and why you wish to do this.

When you request quotes for a second-hand item, you’ll need to ask the supplier to confirm the following points (provide a copy of the email or letter with your application):

detail of the origin of the item and, if possible, confirmation that during the previous 7 years the item has not been purchased with public funding - if you cannot get this confirmation from the supplier, you should make your own enquiries and provide us with a declaration to confirm that, to the best of your knowledge, the item has not previously been grant-funded
that the item meets health and safety legislation
that the item does not cost more than the market value for new equipment
that the item is operational and fit for the purpose of the project as described by you to them when you get the quote

You’ll need to confirm that the item specification is equal to or better than a new comparable version, that it meets the requirements of the project, and that it is expected to last for the duration of any grant agreement that might be offered to you.

You’ll also need to confirm that the description given to the supplier was consistent with the purpose for the project as set out in your application (supply the email you send to all potential suppliers asking them to provide a quote that sets out what you want to use the item for).

If you cannot obtain the supplier confirmation with the quote, you need to explain why. You should provide other evidence that the item will meet the criteria as set out above. If you do not provide confirmation from the supplier that meets these requirements, we may not be able to accept the quote.

If your second-hand item is no longer available at the time we approve your application, you can make a request to use a different supplier. You will need to provide the confirmation from that supplier as set out above with the new quote.

You do not need to get all 3 quotes for second-hand items. You can submit one quote for the second-hand item and 2 further quotes for new items if the item details are similar and the cost of the second-hand item is cheaper than the cost of a new item. Where the item cost is below £5,000 you will need to provide a further quote for a new item which is to the same specification.

Questions 5.11 and 5.11a

Review the answers you submitted to the online checker. We sent you a confirmation email including your answers.

Select ‘yes’ or ‘no’ from the drop-down options to answer if the project details or its location have changed since you completed the online checker.

If you select ‘No’ from the drop-down list to this question, you are confirming that the answers you gave to the online checker are correct and unchanged.

If you select ‘yes’ from the drop-down list to this question, you’re confirming that one or more of the answers you gave to the online checker was incorrect or has changed. Use the space provided in the application form to inform us of any changes to the answers you gave.

We know that some project details may have changed since you completed the online checker, such as changes to project costs. The overall details of the project described in this application should not be much different from those described in the online checker. You should discuss any changes with our grants service team before submitting your full application to make sure you can proceed.

If there have been significant changes to the project, and these have not already been discussed and agreed with us, this could affect your application and eligibility for grant funding.

Section 6: Other funding

Question 6.1

Tell us if you or your business have received, or applied for, any other public sector funding for previous Adding Value activities or for other items for this project. Select your answer from the drop-down box. If ‘yes’, please give details in the table.

This includes funding from public sector organisations like your local authority, Big Lottery Fund, levy board funds or other government grants including from Defra, Natural England, Forestry Commission and RPA.

It also includes EU funding, such as from the following schemes:

European Social Fund (ESF)
European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)
European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD)
European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF)
Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE)
Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF)
Forestry Commission
LEADER

You should include details of any other grant applications you have made and not yet heard the outcome.

You do not need to include Single Payment Scheme (SPS) or BPS payments.

Section 7: Permissions and consents

Question 7.1

Confirm here whether the project will take place on land or in premises that are rented, leased, or tenanted (or whether the applicant business owns the land or premises). Select your answer from the drop-down options.

If the applicant business does not own the land or premises, you will need a rental or tenancy agreement with the owner. You’ll need to provide details of your rental, lease or tenancy agreement including end dates of the current agreement, where applicable.

Many limited company farming businesses do not own the land farmed – this is held outside the farming business for example, by a trust or owned by individuals. Where the limited company farming business is the applicant, a rental or tenancy agreement will be required.

You do not need to send us a copy of the whole agreement, but we may ask for it in the future. We will need to see a copy of the sections showing the property address, tenant, landlord, signatures and dates, and the tenancy term for fixed term arrangements.

If we approve your application and you have a fixed term arrangement that has less than 6 years to run, you’ll need to provide a new agreement.

If you have an oral tenancy agreement you need written evidence from your landlord confirming that you have security of tenure for at least 6 years. If you cannot do this then evidence of rent payments, estate correspondence or other documentation such as subsidy claims that shows you have occupied the land or premises before 1 September 1995 will be acceptable.

Question 7.2

Tell us here if planning permission is needed for your project. Select your answer from the drop-down options.

Planning permission may be required for alterations to existing buildings or the construction of new buildings. If a building is essential to the operation of the project you need to make sure that the need for planning permission has been addressed.

We cannot assess applications or commit funds to projects that are waiting on planning permission to proceed. Therefore, you need to send a copy of the planning permission approval together with your full application submission.

We also need a copy of the plans and drawings that were approved as part of your planning permission. We’ll use these to confirm that these details match those in your application and to check that any specific requirements are met.

If you do not have planning consent for your project your application will be considered incomplete and withdrawn from the scheme.

Question 7.2a

We may need to check the planning documents and plans on the local planning authority (LPA) website. So we can do this, please tell us the name of the LPA, the planning reference approval number and the name of the planning website.

Question 7.3

Use the table in the application form to list any other permissions or consents needed for your project, for example, listed building consent.

Section 8: Selection criteria

The information that you give in this section provides more detail about some of the entries in the Adding Value details tab of the application appendix spreadsheet and will be used to help us assess how well your project meets the criteria for the Adding Value grant. It is important that you answer each question as fully and clearly as possible, as a lack of content may weaken your application.

Your project must be processing eligible agricultural products. See the list of eligible agricultural products.

Adding Value theme details

We use this section to understand the project, and its potential impact, in more detail. These answers help explain what the project is doing, what it’s bringing to your business (and others), and if there are any potential environmental benefits.

Question 8.1

Provide a full list of all agricultural products (inputs) that the project will be preparing or processing, for example, milk, eggs, meat (by type) potatoes, cereals, fruit and vegetables (by type), flax, wool, hides.

Or enter ‘N/A - retail only’ if applicable.

Question 8.1.1

Use the list of eligible agricultural products to check the agricultural inputs declared at question 8.1.

After you have consulted the list of eligible agricultural products, complete the declaration about the project inputs by choosing from the drop-down selection. Only those projects that are processing eligible agricultural inputs can be grant-funded. If your project has no eligible inputs, it is ineligible, and you are not able to continue with the application.

If appropriate, use the free text box to explain why the project needs to use some inputs not on the eligible list. Identify each ineligible input and provide volumes or % levels to illustrate the quantities involved in the outputs.

Contact RPA if you are unsure if the inputs you are processing or the outputs of your project are eligible agricultural products. Contact details are in the email inviting you to submit a full application.

Question 8.1.2

Describe the purpose of the project processes that require the specified equipment, for example, to start bagging fresh produce to increase retail opportunities. You should also confirm the level of innovation delivered by the project, such as enabling first time adoption of new production techniques. For example, these usually arise from installing equipment new to the business. Do not include existing operations, as these details will help us assess the innovative impact of the grant funding.

Note that stand-alone long-term storage projects, such as grain, potato or fruit storage, are not eligible under these grants. Projects processing livestock manures or slurry, or digestate from any source, are also not eligible.

Question 8.1.3

If automation is a feature of the project, tell us about the level of automation and how you have calculated this.

Question 8.1.4

Tell us about the project outputs, the volumes produced, what they are and how they fit into your business plans. For example, do they increase the volume of a very popular item, or are they an attempt to enter a new or growing market.

Question 8.1.5

This entry is about whether the project will open new routes to market and what new customers it will bring to the business. Tell us about your existing sales channels and what sales channels you will have after the project is delivered. For example, if you will start selling to wholesalers for the first time, or you are creating direct retail capacity.

Question 8.1.6

We want to understand if the project will benefit more than just the applicant business. Explain how the project may expand your business through new connections and ongoing arrangements created by the project (for example, new suppliers or new sales collaborations), and detail how they will benefit economically from the project. Any such declared businesses benefitting will need to be named and listed at Q6 in the Adding Value theme details tab of the appendix. Note that builders and equipment suppliers to complete the project should not be included.

Question 8.1.7

We would also like to know about some other project outcomes.

Question 8.1.7a

Tell us about the type and scale of inputs required by your processing project, and who will be supplying the raw materials. If your project includes retail activity or is only retail, tell us what types and ranges of goods you will be selling including who your suppliers will be.

Question 8.1.7b

Detail any expected changes to the applicant business employee numbers as a result of the project, such as if new jobs will be created or reduce reliance on manual or unskilled labour. Use the full time equivalent (FTE) value based on separate roles of 30 hours or more per week. For example, a person working 15 hours a week would be 0.5 FTE, 30 hours or more would be 1 FTE, or a person working 30 hours or more a week but only for 3 months would be 0.25 FTE.

Question 8.1.7c

Explain how the project will generate additional income for your business, such as if you will be:

creating and selling new added value products
expanding your sales through new routes to market
accessing new market sectors
establishing or expanding your direct retail capacity

You will need to provide volumes and values to support your forecasts of additional income at question 8.4a below. You will also need to enter the total number of new products in the outputs tab (E) of the appendix spreadsheet.

Question 8.1.8

This is where you give us a detailed explanation of how the project will deliver the environmental benefits declared at Q8 in the Adding Value theme details tab of the appendix, by identifying the project processes and specific item(s) of equipment that will deliver them. For example, a particular processing line element has wastewater capture, certain equipment is especially energy efficient (such as motion sensitive) or is powered by renewable energy, or new packaging processes will reduce wastage or use of single-use plastic.

Note that the first declaration, at 8.1, references use of fossil fuels (such as coal, oil, or gas). RPA will prioritise equipment using an electric or renewable energy source over those using fossil fuel (for example diesel). Biofuels are considered as renewable energy under this fund. Fossil fuel powered equipment will only be supported where you can show that there is not a commercially available electric or renewable energy powered alternative.

If you have changed the number or type of forecast environmental benefits from your online checker submission (for example, removed several entries) use the space provided to explain why the project has changed focus, increased or decreased the range and scope changing the environmental impact, or if some other issue or development has arisen.

Rationale for the grant request

There are 3 parts to this question, and you need to answer each one.

Question 8.2

Tell us why the project needs grant funding for it to go ahead. You must provide a detailed rationale to justify the support of public funding. Explain how the project will deliver additional activity over and above what would otherwise be delivered. We cannot support projects that we consider will take place anyway without grant funding and you must show that the grant contribution to a project will enable it to go ahead.

Question 8.2a

Explain which other options you have considered before deciding upon the proposed project. For example:

if you looked at alternative project designs, funding packages, location, timescales or scaling back other planned projects
if you considered whether a smaller processing line or building extension would be enough
if you considered other sources of commercial funding, explain who you have contacted and why this funding was not secured

Question 8.2b

Tell us what will happen to the project and the delivery of the direct project outputs if grant funding was not offered. Explain how this would impact on project timescales, specification, and the forecasted achievement of output. For example, if the project would go ahead but on a slower timescale, and if any of the outputs would be delivered or would they be delivered over a longer timescale. Identify which specific project outputs would be impacted.

Projects that do not provide a reasonable and justified rationale for funding will not be supported.

Need, demand and competition

We need to understand the business need addressed by the project, and the likely demand for the project outputs. In addition, as almost every project will be in competition with other businesses, we need to understand the potential impact of your project to displace existing trade or service provision.

Question 8.3: Need and demand

In your answers at questions 4.4 and 4.5 above, explain the business need addressed by the project (for example, if it will update ageing production processes, introduce diversification, or enable transfer from reducing markets). Describe the market demand for your project, including who will be your project’s target market and the expected level of demand. Detail the market research undertaken to support these conclusions (this should be supported by submission of documentary evidence such as market or sector reports for the new products).

Question 8.3a: Competition and displacement

In your answers at Q4.4 and Q4.5 above, detail any existing local (please define), national, or online competition that you have identified. Describe what impact your project will have on these competing businesses. For example, will it take business away, is the market growing or shrinking, or will your project offer something different to what is already available on the market from your competitors?

Projects that do not demonstrate either acceptable need and demand or competition and displacement will not be supported.

Financial health and projections

We need to understand how the proposed project will impact financially on your business operations, and how your business will manage this.

Question 8.4

Before completing this question, you will need to fill in the ‘Financial impact’ tab of the appendix spreadsheet to show the impact of the project on your future costs and income. Use the headings provided in the table and enter your forecast costs and income for 3 years after the project has been completed. Your project will be considered as completed when the equipment is operational, and the final grant claim payment has been paid.

Question 8.4a

Explain here the forecasts and key assumptions you have used to fill in the ‘Financial impact’ tab of the appendix spreadsheet. For example, if the project will generate additional income, if there will be additional costs or a reduction in costs because of the project. Explain the experience or research you have based your forecasts on and provide specific volumes or values to illustrate and support your calculations and reasoning.

You need to make sure your forecasts are realistic and achievable for the business.

You can also use this entry to provide any further financial information, or clarification of appendix entries, to support your application.

Question 8.4b

We need to understand the financial capacity within your business to manage the delivery of the project, and how the project will impact your business finances once operational.

Please explain:

what the financial benefits are of the project to your business once it is operational
how you will manage your cash flow while carrying out your project and explain how you will manage the grant being paid in arrears
how you will manage your cash flow to fund the existing business and the new project activity
any relevant financial issues relating to the applicant business and the underlying business accounts you have submitted with the full application that we need to know about

We may not be able to support projects that we consider present a significant financial risk to the business.

Project delivery

Projects need to be delivered within design, budget, and schedule to be successful. Tell us how you will manage your project to achieve these targets and how you will deal with any issues that may occur during delivery of your project.

Question 8.5.1

Risks are defined as events that are or could be likely. The table in the application lists examples of risks that could impact the successful delivery of your project. These are:

delays or difficulties with suppliers, contractors, labour or materials
installation and commissioning delays
delays or changes to project funding
unforeseen additional costs
lack of expertise in the business to deliver the project
changes to the team managing the project and grant

You need to complete all columns in the table, using drop down choices or some free text, as follows.

In column:

A - select the chance of each risk occurring
B - select the likely impact if a risk does occur
C - explain what you would do if the risk did occur and the steps you would take to continue the project

Explain what you will do to reduce the change of the risk occurring.

Add any additional risks you identify in the empty boxes at the end of the list.

Question 8.5.2

Tell us how and who will manage your project delivery, including:

the people in the project team responsible for delivering the project to schedule and cost, raising the grant claims, and managing the post-project business activity
their current roles in your business
their project delivery skills and experience, or whether you are bringing in outside expertise

We may not be able to support projects that we consider have significant delivery risks and a lack of planned mitigation actions.

Section 9: Information and evaluation

Question 9.1: Further contact

Please let us know if you are willing to be contacted in the future. This will help us improve the services and schemes we provide. Select your answer from the drop-down options.

Declarations

Please read this section and make sure that you’re in agreement with and can meet the requirements set out in it.

The declaration must be completed and submitted by someone holding full permissions or make legal changes permission on the Rural Payments service.

By submitting and agreeing to the submission of the full application form, you’ll be agreeing to the declaration. Remember to complete the agent authorisation section if you want them to act on your behalf and contact us regarding your application. You will also need to provide them with a minimum of make legal changes permission on the Rural Payments service.

When completing your declaration, you should be aware than in some cases grant support may be refused or withdrawn in full.

These are when RPA determines that:

you have made changes to the declaration statement
a serious non-compliance by the grant beneficiary has occurred
the agreement holder has provided false evidence
the agreement holder has failed to provide the necessary information due to negligence

The withdrawal of grant support may be applied for the calendar year of notification plus the following calendar year. Support may also be refused for other grant schemes. Agreement holders will be notified and will be able to query it if they do not agree.

The person making the declaration and submitting the form must provide their CRN and the email address to enable verification on the Rural Payments service.

Supporting documents checklist

You must email your supporting documents with your electronic full application forms. Please email your supporting documents in PDF files.

All supporting documents that you need to submit to support your application are listed at the end of the full application form. See ‘Supporting documents checklist’ for a list of these. You need to review this list and tick the box to confirm you have included the document with your application. There is a comments box for you to explain if necessary.

If we do not receive all the supporting documents needed for your project, we will not be able to assess it. This may impact on your project timescales.

If you do not provide these documents when we ask for them from you or they do not meet our requirements, your application may be rejected.

Please make sure your supporting documents meet the following requirements.

Application appendix spreadsheet

Detailed instructions on how to fill in the application appendix are set out below. All tabs must be fully completed and saved in the correct format.

Applicant business accounts

Refer to the guidance at question 1.10 for applicant business accounts evidence requirements.

Linked business accounts

We’ll need to see the accounts for any businesses that the applicant business is linked to, as described at question 1.11a. These need to meet the same requirements as set out at question 1.10.

New businesses or self-employed applicants

Refer to the guidance at question 1.10 for evidence requirements.

Consents and permissions

If your project needs planning permission, follow the guidance at question 7.2. You should also submit the plans submitted as part of your planning application.

If you are a tenant, you must supply the relevant sections from your agreement as set out on the form. If you have obtained any other consents, licences or permissions for your project, please forward copies to us.

Evidence of project funding

Refer to the guidance at question 5.4 for funding evidence requirements.

Quotes or other evidence of costs

Refer to Section 5 to see how many quotes or references to catalogue listings or tenders you need to provide for every project item. This also shows the requirements the quotes must meet.

Second-hand items

If you are proposing to purchase any project items second hand, you must get confirmation from the supplier covering all the points at question 5.10 and send it to us with the quote.

Irrecoverable VAT

Refer to the table at question 5.7 to check if you can include irrecoverable VAT in your project costs. If you think that you can, you need to send us a letter from an independent professionally qualified accountant that shows your VAT status and confirms that your business cannot recover the VAT you have included in the project costs.

Details and draft agreement between parties

If your project involves formal collaboration between you and another business you need to provide a draft agreement, the heads of terms, and a letter or email of support from each business. We may ask to see a copy of the full and final signed agreement.

Letters of Support (LoS) from third parties

If you provide a letter or email of support from another business (not linked to yours) it should be dated, clearly show the business identity and reference the proposed project. If you propose to work in collaboration with other businesses, the LoS should also provide the name of each party, and set out the agreement details and the term of the agreement.

Letters of Intent or Forward Orders

If you are supplying copies of Letter(s) of Intent or Forward Orders, to evidence some level of demand, the document(s) should be dated, show the business name and contact details of the sender, and indicate the level of interest (preferably through providing some indicative volumes).

Market demand evidence

If you are supplying documents supporting your market demand conclusions such as trade reports, media articles or market statistics, the documents should be dated and clearly show the source of the material. All material should be printed off and provided as an emailed PDF. For security purposes, we cannot accept links to outside websites.

Question 5

How to fill in the application appendix spreadsheet

Accepted Answer

For a full application, you must complete the application form and appendix spreadsheet. You need to fill in 6 tabs on the spreadsheet. These are:

Adding Value theme details
A - Financial impact
B – Costs and suppliers
C - Funding and claims
D - Project milestones
E - Outputs

You need to fill in each tab in the order shown above, as some of the information you fill in will feed into and create the data in other tabs.

Tabs A (Financial impact) and E (Outputs) detail information on your current position and your forecasts for the future. Current means the existing situation (before undertaking the project). Forecast means what will happen after the project has been delivered and completed.

If you wish to explain any of the information you enter in the appendix, you can use the appropriate questions in section 8 of the application form.

Adding Value theme details tab

We will use the information you enter in this page to help us assess how well the project meets the Adding Value theme priorities.

For the purpose of this tab, the term ‘agricultural products’ refers to the products on the list of eligible agricultural products and includes both crops and livestock and products derived from these.

Be realistic where we have asked you for forecasts, as we will expect to see evidence that the outputs you propose have been achieved. Where evidence is not available, or where a project fails to deliver contracted outputs, we may recover previously paid grant funding or withdraw the grant.

Application details

Enter your business name, project name, and the DORA project reference number from the top of your ‘Invitation to submit a full application’ email.

Question 1

Tell us which agricultural products the project will primarily be preparing or processing for ‘added value’ sales. Select from the available drop-down choices:

horticultural crops exclude flowers and fibre crops
fibre products include flax and hemp crops, or animal products such as hair, wool, skins or hides
fodder products are processed or repackaged outputs exclusively for animal feed purposes
non-edible products include ornamental flowers and non-edible livestock products

Note that you will give a more detailed description of these in the application form.

Question 2

Tell us about the purpose of the grant-funded investment and the associated ‘adding value’ processing activities of the project.

Give the name and detail the equipment you are requesting grant funding for (under Item name and description).
Enter the grant request on the equipment (under £ Grant Request).
Identify what sort of processing activity, or other purpose (for example, retail) the item is for, by selecting from the drop-down list under Project process Category. You can group multiple items of the same equipment, for the same purpose, together under each different process (multiple entries may subsequently be split into individual entries in the Costs and Suppliers tab).
Choose a drop-down option under Level of innovation to business to confirm if this is a first-time item for the business (New), an improved version of an existing item (Upgrade) or more of the same of an existing item (Additional).

Note that declared new processes form a contractual part of any GFA and will be subject to annual post-project monitoring and reporting requirements.

Then, for the new processes only, complete the table to provide a forecast of how many of these new processes will be introduced to the business during each of the 3 years following project completion.

Question 3

Tell us about the level of automation within the grant-funded machinery or equipment, using % against each criterion to show the overall project impact. For example, all the grant-funded equipment might be fully automatic and therefore you would enter 100% against Functional Automation and 0% against the other two descriptions.

Question 4

Detail any expected processed outputs, grouped by category, range or type. By this we mean a group of similar products that share related characteristics and generally can be considered as substitutes for each other. Do not count product variations in flavour, pack size or colour as further separate groups.

Indicate, using drop down ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers, if these are entirely new (First time) product offers, a variation of an existing product (Increases range), or more of the same (Increase volume). Note that any declared new product outputs form a contractual part of any GFA and will be subject to annual post-project monitoring and reporting requirements.

Then, for the new products only, complete the table to provide a forecast of how many of these new products will be introduced to the business during each of the 3 years following project completion.

Question 5

Describe how the project will impact or change your routes to market by detailing your existing customer base in % (or enter ‘N/A’ for new businesses) and then the expected % after the project is delivered. For example, where the project introduces entirely new channels we would expect the associated Existing entry to be 0%.

Question 6

This is where you can tell us how many businesses will benefit economically from the project. For example, some projects will provide economic benefits to another partner, collaborating, or supplier businesses.

Complete the table to provide a forecast of how many businesses will start benefitting from the project during each of the three years following project completion.

Then complete a list of all such benefitting businesses, starting with the applicant business. Identify other businesses by name and use the drop-down options to indicate their status (such as formal partnerships, collaborating businesses or long term contracted suppliers) and confirm if these are existing or new arrangements. Where possible, you should also indicate the % level that any named supplier contributes to the project inputs.

Question 7

We are also interested in 3 other business changes as a result of the project. Complete the table to provide the following forecasts:

expected annual increase in processing volume. We want to know what the increase in processing volume will be as a result of your project. If you are already processing, give the baseline volume of products processed. Then give the annual increase in volume processed in each of the first 3 years following project completion. For example, if you are currently processing 20 tonnes of products and will increase this by 10 tonnes in each of the 3 years giving total of 50 tonnes produced by the end of third year, enter 20 for the baseline figure and 10 for each of the following years. The ‘project increase total’ will show 30 tonnes, as this is the increase in volume as a result of the project
any increase in workforce numbers caused by the project, using 30 hours a week FTE numbers - for example, a part time role of 15 hours would be 0.5 FTE, 20 hours would be 0.66 FTE and any single role of 30 hours or more would be one FTE
additional income created by the project - this should align with the additional income from the project shown in the Financial Impact tab

Question 8

This section is about capturing any environmental impacts or benefits specifically arising from the grant-funded project. For each question (8.1 to 8.6) you must enter ‘yes’ or ‘no’, as applicable, in every box (that means you will provide 24 answers).

After completing this section, you will be required to provide supporting detail in the Full Application, at section 8.1.8, where you will need to identify which specific grant-funded asset or equipment will deliver the declared benefits.

Tab A: Financial impact

We need to understand how the purchase of the requested equipment or building works will financially benefit your business, and also the financial position of your business operations outside of the project, for the 3 years following project delivery.

Use the headings provided in the table and enter your forecast costs and income for 3 years after the project has been completed. Your project will be considered as completed when the equipment is operational and the final grant claim payment has been paid.

Table A should be completed with dates for 3 12-month periods following project delivery and the additional costs or savings as a result of the project. Under each heading enter the total income or cost for your business, in £, for each of the 3 years starting from when your completed project will be operational.

Table B should be completed with your forecast of turnover and profits for the same period as table A, for your existing or planned business operations excluding the project.

You will need to explain your reasoning behind these entries, plus provide any necessary additional financial information, at question 8.4a of the full application form.

Tab B: Costs and suppliers

You need to fill in:

item to be funded (column B)
the supplier’s name
the quoted amount (both including and excluding VAT)
the supplier’s VAT and Companies House numbers (if registered)

You’ll need to provide these details for each supplier, starting with your preferred supplier and moving to the right to fill in the columns for the second and third suppliers.

You need to show all costs that are being included in your grant application.

It may be helpful to group similar costs from each supplier under one heading, for example, all fixtures and fittings, or a complete production line. Such groupings should be supported by clear and detailed itemisation on all the supplier quotes.

You should also fill in the table under the main project expenditure table to show any non-grant funded project expenditure. These are costs that are critical to the project, but you are not asking for grant support for as it is an ineligible item. For example, ineligible solar panels to provide energy for eligible processing equipment.

Tab C: Funding and claims

Much of the information in this tab will be copied across by the spreadsheet from the details you fill in on tab B.

You first need to confirm if you are including irrecoverable VAT in your project costs to ensure the correct costs are transferred in from tab B. Enter Y or N into the box on line 4.

You should then enter the requested grant % rate (column E) to work out the grant. For example, if you are requesting grant funding at 40%, enter 40 into the grant rate box. Do not use a % sign. You must use the same grant rate for all the lines or items requested.

Once you’ve entered the grant rate, the total grant amount requested will be automatically shown in column F.

Once the grant rate and grant amounts are complete, check the project cost summary table to make sure all details are correct.

Any declared non-grant funded expenditure will also be copied from the table you filled in on tab B.

You should then fill in the claims table at the right of the tab (columns H, J, L). You’ll need to put up to 3 claim dates on line 7 (you can overtype the date in red) and put the eligible cost that you plan to include in each claim for every item. The grant amount will be shown and the totals for each claim will be calculated at the bottom of the table.

As you allocate each item of expenditure to a claim, the figure in column N to the right of the claims table will show £0.00 (in green).

Expenditure remaining to be allocated to claims will be shown in red.

When setting your claim dates, think about when your costs will occur and when the invoice(s) will be paid in full. You do not have to have 3 claims, you can submit just one or 2. Some item costs may be spread out, so you may receive interim invoices as the works are completed. In such cases you may wish to submit 2 or 3 claims against one item.

Remember to space multiple claims about 3 months apart, to allow time for any project slippage and our processing and payment requirements. We may have to amend claim dates that are too close together.

For most costs it is likely that you’ll receive one invoice and so will then claim for the full cost after the item has been received, installed and paid for in full.

We do not normally pay grant until the item is fully installed and operational. However, there may be some instances where a large deposit must be paid at the point of ordering. In such cases you can claim up to 40% of the value of the item, and it should be clearly set out in your claim schedule.

Check that you’ve filled in the costs and claims table and checked to make sure that the project cost summary is correct. You should scroll down to check that the claim table at the bottom of the tab is also correct. This should accurately show when you plan to submit each claim, the total expenditure included in each claim and the grant amount you intend to claim.

If you have more than one claim, you must make sure that the final claim is at least 15% of the total grant amount being requested.

Tab D: Project milestones

Project milestones should show the key steps and stages of your planned project delivery, including what you’ll need to do and when. Fill in the table on this tab with the expected project start and completion dates, plus dates for achieving interim stages such as:

commissioning of equipment or building works
completing building works
installing equipment
testing equipment getting it fully functional
training staff
any other significant stages

Tab E: Outputs

The ‘Contractual Outputs’ table on this tab lists the project outputs we expect your project to meet as part of the Adding Value grant outcomes. These will be entered as contractual obligations (to be delivered) in any GFA.

For Adding Value, these outputs are:

benefits to businesses
adopting new production techniques or processes
creating new added value products
additional turnover

The table entries will automatically populate from the details you have entered in the Adding Value theme details tab.

If you are successful with your grant application, we will provide you with further guidance regarding data monitoring and reporting with your GFA.

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