Form

How to complete your Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund application

Published 23 October 2023

Applies to England

Complete your application form

Download the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund (CSFF) application form from GOV.UK.

If you cannot access GOV.UK, email RPA at ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk or telephone 03000 200 301 to ask us to send a copy to you.

You must fill in all sections of the application form and answer every question.

Section 1 – Your details

SBI Number – enter your SBI number. If you do not have one, you can apply for one by calling the Rural Payments Agency’s Customer Service Centre on 03000 200 301.

Name – enter your (the Facilitator’s) full name.

Name of group – enter the name of the Facilitation group.

Address – fill in your (the Facilitator’s) full address.

Question 1: Are you, or have you been the Facilitator for any other CS Facilitation Fund groups?

Tick ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. If Yes, make sure you enter the group reference numbers for any groups you have managed, including current or expired groups. For example, CSFF123456 Current or CSFF654321 Expired.

Question 2: Are you working with other facilitators as part of your facilitation group? (Question 2)

Tick ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. If Yes, please enter the name, role, and responsibility of each facilitator. For example: Mr S Farmer, lead facilitator,

Question 3: Please give details of all staff who will help you deliver the Facilitation Fund.

Enter the details of every member of staff, including their name, and their role within the Facilitation Fund.

Question 4: If you are applying on behalf of an organisation, have they formally agreed to you applying for this funding?

Tick ‘Yes’, ‘No’ or ‘N/A’. If Yes, make sure your form is certified by the person responsible for agreeing your role as Facilitator of their organisation. This person will need to have the relevant permission levels set up in the Rural Payments service.

Question 5: Details of possible duplicate funding activities

Please provide details of possible sources of duplicate funding activities. For example, if you are or will be claiming for Landscape Recovery.

Fill in any potential sources where you might receive funding for both Facilitation Fund and another scheme. Even if you are not sure if there will be duplicate funding, you should still fill this in.

Section 2 – Your experience

Questions 6 to 8 are for you to demonstrate the experience you have which will support your application to facilitate a group. You should provide a comprehensive answer for all questions. This will include providing evidence of your experiences working collaboratively with others, your relevant qualifications, and your experience working on the CS priorities which are linked to your application.

Question 9: Independent referees

Please provide two independent referees to support your application. These referees may be subject to checks, so you should make sure all details are completed fully and are correct.

Section 3 – Your group

Question 10: When was your group established?

Enter the month and year when your group was first established.

Question 11: How many members are currently in your group?

Enter the number of members. All members must have completed the CSFF Group Member form in full.

Question 12: Confirm that you have a group agreement in place to cover how group will manage disputes and operate

Tick to confirm. The group agreement must be signed by each member of the group. RPA do not provide a template for this.

Question 13: What is the total area of the holdings covered by the group?

The area must be in hectares (ha) and be a minimum of 500ha. Make sure clear and annotated maps are included as supporting evidence along with your application.

Question 14: If the total combined area of the holding is smaller than 500ha or holdings are dispersed, provide details of how your proposal fits a smaller obvious environmental boundary and how you plan to improve the connection and interaction between such boundaries

We will still accept applications if the holding is smaller than 500ha or the area is spread across more than one holding. However, you will need to tell us how you will use your group to improve the collaboration and environmental benefits of the boundaries. Examples of dispersed holdings include clusters of wood or meadows.

Question 15: Is your group currently receiving any other funding, or are you planning to secure funding on behalf of your group?

Tick ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. If Yes, tell us what additional funding your group receives and how the funding will help deliver your group’s CS priorities.

Section 4 – Your delivery plan

Question 16: Select the priority areas of activity you will work on (Question 15)

There are six available options. Tick all that apply to your group.

Question 17: Which National Character Areas (NCAs) does your application cover?

For more information on NCAs, please read the applicants guide relevant to your scheme year.

Question 18: Tell us what your plans are to support CS priorities as a group

There are 5 boxes to fill in here which form the Delivery Plan for your facilitation group. The information supplied will be used to develop your agreement, if your application is successful. Provide as much information as possible.

You should tell us clearly what your group’s objectives are and how your group plan to work together, incorporating the CS priorities to achieve your objectives.

Within this section, you need to tell us the group meetings planned, the training activities planned and training consumables to be purchased across each period. Each period is split into 3 months, across the 3 years of the Facilitation Fund scheme.

Section 5 – Project financial information

Question 19: Funding

Complete the table in full. Tell us how much funding you will need to achieve your plan.

Question 20: VAT

Select the relevant option to confirm if you are able to reclaim no, full or partial VAT costs from HM Revenue and Customs. You should also provide the VAT number.

You should also tell us what VAT you can reclaim, providing as much information as possible. If your application is successful, you will be required to provide evidence in the form of a letter from an independent Chartered accountant or HMRC. For more information read the applicants guide for the relevant scheme year.

Section 6 – Supporting documents

Use this section to make sure that you have attached any required supporting documents and evidence before sending it to us.

Check that you have included all the following documents before you send us your application form. If supporting documents are not included, this could delay your application being processed. For every supporting document, you should tell us how many forms have been included.

• Group Member Forms – enter the total number of forms, which must match the number of group members indicated at Section 3, Question 11

• Group maps – submit maps that are clearly annotated, showing the area that the group members cover, the size of each holding and the member’s name, business and SBI - if you do not have access to mapping software, you can use MAGIC maps

• Landowner consent(s) – provide landowner consent in the form of an email or signed letter from the landowner for each group member who does not have management control for the lifetime of the agreement

• Two independent references - if referees are from an organisation, references should be on letter headed paper including the organisation name, address, and logo if applicable

• Other documents – if you need to supply any additional information or supporting evidence, please indicate what this is, and how many documents are enclosed

Application declaration

Make sure that:

• you have read and understood the Applicant’s guide relevant to your scheme year and the terms and conditions that will apply to your agreement before you sign the declaration.

• all your land and business details are up to date and correct in the Rural Payments service

• you have ‘Full’ or ‘Make legal changes’ permission in the Rural Payments service

• you (as Facilitator) have filled in the declaration at Section 7 to confirm that you have read and understood the requirements of the CS Facilitation Fund scheme and the undertakings that you are making in submitting your application

• you have completed all relevant parts of the application form, including signing and dating the declaration section

• if you work as part of an organisation, you have had the declaration signed by the person responsible for agreeing your participation as Facilitator

• you have attached any relevant supporting documents or evidence

Submit your application

Send us all parts of the completed form, and other supporting documents.

Submit by email

You must send us your application and supporting documents by email. You can attach more documents to this email if needed to support your application. There is a size limit of 32mb on the emails you can send to us through the Rural Payments service. To help with this issue, you can send zip files, or multiple emails if the size of one email is too big and isn’t accepted.

We do not accept links to virtual online drives such as iCloud/Google drive or One Drive with your supporting evidence stored there.

If you need to send more than one email, make sure you include reference to the number of emails you’ll be sending in the subject header, so we know how many emails/documents to expect. For example, ‘CSFF application supporting maps – email 1 of 4’.

Remember to put your SBI number on everything you send to us.

We recommend that you email your application and supporting documents to us in plenty of time before the application deadline in case there are any electronic issues, or you need more support.

Email your application and supporting documents to us at ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk and put ‘Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund application’ as the subject heading.

Include your SBI in the email and check it’s on everything you send to us.

You’ll receive an automated email to confirm we have received your application. Check your spam or junk mailbox if you don’t receive this.

If you have any problems submitting your application by email, please contact us via the Rural Payments helpline on 03000 200 301 and we will help you.

After you’ve applied

When we receive your application, we’ll check that:

• you meet the eligibility requirements

• all the necessary details have been entered on your application form

If your application does not meet our checks, we will let you know.  

How we handle your data

For information on how we handle personal data read our personal information charter.