Applicant's guide: Mid Tier and Wildlife Offers for agreements starting on 1 January 2023

Question 1

1 Introduction

Accepted Answer

This manual explains the rules and application process for Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier (including Wildlife Offers) agreements that will start on 1 January 2023.

Countryside Stewardship is administered by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Natural England (NE) provides technical advice in support of the scheme.

This manual explains what you need to do to apply for:

Mid Tier agreements
Wildlife Offers agreements

It also explains the additional requirements and processes that you need to follow. Any references in this manual to ‘us’ or ‘we’ refer to RPA.

Countryside Stewardship scheme overview

The main priority for Countryside Stewardship is to protect and enhance the natural environment, in particular:

increased biodiversity, improved habitat and expanded woodland areas
improved water quality
improved air quality.

Other outcomes supported are:

protection against flooding and coastal erosion
maintaining the historic environment
improved landscape character
climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Countryside Stewardship supports Defra’s 25 Year Environment Plan ‘for our country to be the healthiest, most beautiful place in the world to live, work and bring up a family’. It also supports Defra’s Strategic Objective of ‘a cleaner, healthier environment, benefitting people and the economy’.

Countryside Stewardship gives incentives for land managers to look after the environment and is made up of the following elements:

Higher Tier agreements for land that requires more complex management tailored to the individual site and now includes woodland maintenance
Mid Tier agreements that provide a range of options and capital items that together help to deliver a broad range of environmental benefits
four Wildlife Offers that provide a simpler set of options to help improve the wildlife on farms
Capital Grants that provide grants for boundaries, trees and orchards, water quality and air quality
Woodland Management Plan grant to help create a UK Forestry Standard (UKFS) compliant 10-year woodland management plan
Woodland Tree Health grant to help restore and improve tree health
Facilitation Fund which supports individuals who bring together groups of farmers, foresters and land managers to improve the environmental outcomes in their area
Protection and Infrastructure grant which provides grants for woodland infrastructure.

Wildlife Offers, Woodland Tree Health, and Higher Tier and Mid Tier organic grants are not competitive.

More information

This manual applies to Mid Tier, including the Wildlife Offers. For supporting information and guidance and Countryside Stewardship forms read the Countryside Stewardship pages on GOV.UK.

You can also read more information on GOV.UK about the different elements of Countryside Stewardship that are listed above.

Agricultural Transition

We will continue to offer Countryside Stewardship agreements starting in 2023 and 2024.

Countryside Stewardship will eventually be replaced with three new schemes that reward the delivery of environmental benefits: the Sustainable Farming Incentive, Local Nature Recovery and Landscape Recovery. This will follow piloting involving farmers and land managers. By 2025, we will have fully introduced our three new environmental land management schemes.

Signing up to a Countryside Stewardship agreement now will put you in the best possible position to join future schemes. What’s more, it will give you a viable, long-term source of income for providing environmental benefits as Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments are reduced. If you are successful in securing a place in one of the future schemes and wish to end your Countryside Stewardship agreement, you can terminate your Countryside Stewardship agreement early, at agreed points, so you can join the new scheme.

Sustainable Farming Incentive Pilot Scheme

Land parcels already in a Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot standards agreement are not eligible for Mid Tier, including the Wildlife Offers.

There is a separate Countryside Stewardship Capital Grants offer for Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot participants, to support delivery of the pilot standards. If you are a pilot participant, please read the GOV.UK pages for more information.

Sustainable Farming Incentive 2022

We will launch the first round of the Sustainable Farming Incentive in 2022. Only those farmers who are eligible for payments under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) will have these standards open to them. The scheme will also be open to those who are eligible for BPS and already have an existing CS Mid Tier (or other agri-environment) agreement. However, the Sustainable Farming Incentive standard chosen must be compatible with their existing CS agreement and would not result in them being paid twice for similar activities.

You can enter land parcels into both a CS Mid Tier agreement and a Sustainable Farming Incentive 2022 agreement if the actions under the option do not overlap. For example, if you are already being paid for establishing a cover crop under a Countryside Stewardship option on land that is at risk of soil erosion or surface runoff, then you will not be able to also enter that same land into the Sustainable Farming Incentive arable and horticultural soils standard where similar activities are required. You may still be able to establish cover crops on land on other parts of your holding, where appropriate.

We will publish more information about Sustainable Farming Incentive later in the year. This will include how CS agreement holders can take part and what they need to do to meet the rules of both schemes.

Local Nature Recovery

We plan to make an early version of Local Nature Recovery available to a limited number of people in 2023 and expand this as we roll out the scheme more widely by the end of 2024. You can read more information on how the scheme will work on GOV.UK.

Landscape Recovery

Customers with a Mid Tier or Wildlife Offer Countryside Stewardship agreement can also apply for a Landscape Recovery agreement. Defra will work with Landscape Recovery applicants during the project development phase on how to transition Mid Tier (including Wildlife Offers) Agreement Holders fully into Landscape Recovery and avoid double funding. You can read more information on how the scheme will work on GOV.UK.

Scheme changes for Countryside Stewardship agreements that start on 1 January 2023

New service: apply online for Mid Tier

You can now apply for a Mid Tier agreement online using the Rural Payments service. This is a faster and simpler way to complete your application and we encourage you to apply online if you’re able to. You do not need to request an application pack if you apply online.

Read section 4.1 and the How to apply for Mid Tier online guidance for more information.

Option changes

For 2023, changes have been made to a number of revenue options available in Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier and Higher Tier.

Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) approval has been extended to both high and medium priority areas for water and air pollution management options.

We have introduced two new options specific for lowland peat related to arable (SW17) and permanent grassland (SW18). These will raise water levels to prevent further degradation of, and where possible restore, lowland peat soils.

For options available in Mid Tier:

WD9 (Livestock exclusion supplement) can now be used with UP1 (Enclosed rough grazing), UP2 (Management of rough grazing for birds) and UP3 (Management of moorland)
SW8 (Management of intensive grassland adjacent to a water course) can now be used above the Severely Disadvantaged Area (SDA) line
RP6 (Installation of piped culverts) - specification changed to allow alternatives to concrete for use in woodlands
TE3 (Planting a tree) now allows planting of fruit trees on permanent pasture
SP9 (threatened species supplement) now includes stone curlew and no longer requires prior approval when used with turtle doves
TE4 (tree planting) allows use of tree spirals to be optional where other measures are in place
FG1, FG2 (fencing) specification of preservative has changed and alternative fence posts material is now allowed
ED1 (Educational access) now allows children up to the age of 18
SW4 (12-24m buffer strip) and SW7 (Arable conversion to grassland) can now be used with nitrogen sensitive habitats
SW5 (Enhanced management of maize) now allows cover crop to be sown under maize and to be used with part parcel options SW1 (4m to 6m buffer strip on cultivated land) and SW4 (12m to 24m watercourse buffer strip on cultivated land).

When you have completed your capital works in your Mid Tier agreement, and you have submitted your final claim for these works, you can apply for a separate Capital Grant application. You do not have to wait for your Mid Tier agreement to end to apply for a separate Capital Grant application.

For options available in Higher Tier only:

SW12 (Making space for water) is now compatible with TE3 and TE4 (tree planting)
WD6 and WD12 (Creation of wood pasture) can now be used on arable or grassland with NE advisor approval
CT3 (Management of coastal salt marsh) now includes a stocking calendar to help manage areas of grazing pressure
WD2 (Woodland improvement) is now compatible with historic options and veteran tree surgery (BE6)
WD1 and WD2 (Woodland creation and improvement) now allow livestock to control vegetation and encourage woodland condition

Payment rate changes for revenue options

Defra has recently reviewed CS revenue payment rates based on current costs. This means that revenue payment rates have increased for many options, but there are some options where the payment rates have decreased.

If you are applying for a CS agreement (including a CS mirror agreement) to start in 2023 and you have previously had a CS agreement, the revenue payment rates that you will have had in your agreement may have changed.

Read more information about the CS payment rate changes for revenue options on GOV.UK.

Important information

Historic Environment Farm Environment Record (HEFER) process

If you have Scheduled Monuments or other historic features on your land, you will need a Historic Environment Farm Environment Record (HEFER) that is less than 3 years old and covers all the land in your application. You don’t need a HEFER if you are applying for the Wildlife Offers.

If you choose to apply for Mid Tier online, you will be given access to the HEFER Guidance letter. It will tell you how to use Historic England’s HEFER portal to get your HEFER so that you can check if you have any historic features on your land. If you choose to apply with an application pack, the guidance letter will be included in your pack.

If your land has historic features which do not need a consultation, you will be sent a link to instantly download the HEFER to support your application.

If your land has historic features which require a consultation, you will be informed when the consultation is complete and the HEFER is available to download to support your application. This will be within 20 working days of requesting the consultation through the HEFER portal.

Mirror agreements

A Countryside Stewardship mirror agreement is a new agreement under domestic regulations. It will mirror an existing Countryside Stewardship agreement that is due to expire on 31 December 2022.

If your agreement started in 2018 and is due to expire on 31 December 2022, we may be able to offer you an opportunity to apply for a Countryside Stewardship mirror agreement under domestic regulations. These agreements will last for 5 years.

You cannot use a mirror agreement offer to add, remove, or replace options in the current agreement, although some options (such as woodland options in mixed agreements) may be removed. If you want to add, remove or replace revenue options, you should submit a new Mid Tier application following the usual application process.

If you are not eligible to apply for a mirror agreement, we will let you know in time for you to apply for a new Countryside Stewardship agreement following the usual application process.

The payment rates that will apply to a mirror agreement are the same as set out in this manual. See Annex 2 for a full list of options and payment rates.

You can read about mirror agreements on GOV.UK.

Accessibility improvements

We have made a number of changes to improve accessibility as part of our ongoing aim to provide a high-quality service to all our customers. You will see some small changes in the Countryside Stewardship application annexes and forms as a result, but the information needed is the same.

Scheme approach

Site visits

During Mid Tier and Wildlife Offer site visits, we will assess how the environmental aims are delivered under the options you have in your agreement. We will also check that you have not carried out any prohibited activities. Where there is uncertainty about whether the environmental aims have been delivered, we will take into account any records or evidence you may have kept to demonstrate delivery of the environmental aims.

This will include any steps you’ve taken to follow the recommended management, which you can find by using ‘Countryside Stewardship grants’ (known as the ‘grant finder’) on GOV.UK. It is your responsibility to keep records demonstrating that you have followed the recommended management, if you want to rely on these to support your claim.

Recoveries

If there is a difference between the amount you have claimed and the amount you are due to receive, your claim will be reduced once we have completed our checks. If we have already paid you, we will recover the difference.

We do not apply penalties to domestic Countryside Stewardship agreements which started from 1 January 2021 onwards, but in certain circumstances we may withhold payments or apply reductions. This includes action that we may need to take following a site visit.

If we think there is an issue that can be resolved, we will offer advice and guidance.

In some cases, we may write to tell you what you need to do to make improvements, and we may also suspend your payments until you make the improvements. If appropriate, we may also offer you advice or guidance to help you meet the requirements of your agreement. Once you can demonstrate the improvements have been made, we will pay you.

If you do not fulfil your obligations under the agreement we will reduce or withhold your payment or seek recovery. In some cases, we may terminate your agreement and/or refuse support for other Defra grant schemes for up to 2 years, for example, if we find intentional non-compliance or fraud.

We may not check all your agreement, especially where we find good practice and that you have met the environmental aims. However, we may investigate if we find that requirements are not being met.

More detailed guidance and communications with you

We want to help Agreement Holders meet their agreement and option requirements. To support this, we will provide regular and timely communications to farmers and land managers during the year, where the timing of activities is important, to help deliver the aims of options.

The Countryside Stewardship agreement

A Mid Tier agreement comprises of:

the scheme Terms and Conditions, found at Annex 1
the Agreement Document (which sets out Agreement Holder specific details)
the supplementary documents referred to in the Agreement Document.

Mandatory parts of the Mid Tier Manual

The Terms and Conditions refer to the mandatory elements of this manual that Agreement Holders must comply with.

The mandatory elements of the manual are:

Section 3: Who can apply and what land is eligible
Section 5: Wildlife Offers
Section 6: Scheme requirements and procedures
Section 7: Agreement Management
Annex 6: Livestock record-keeping requirements on arable and grassland

Be aware of fraud

How to avoid fraud and what to do if you suspect an attempted fraud.

Fraudsters may target farmers who receive subsidy payments and we’re aware that in the past some customers have received emails, texts and telephone calls claiming to be from the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) or the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Links to a fake website designed to look like an authentic RPA or Defra online service are sometimes included in the message.

We do not send emails or text messages with links to websites asking you to confirm your personal details or payment information. We strongly advise anyone who receives such a request not to open the link, and delete the item.

As fraudsters may target farmers who receive subsidy payments, remember:

never discuss your bank account details with someone you do not know
we will not ask you to make a payment over the phone
delete any emails or texts you do not believe are genuine, and do not open any links – our main email addresses are:
ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk
rpa@notifications.service.gov.uk
FETFEnquiries@rpa.gov.uk
FETFClaims@rpa.gov.uk
FTF@rpa.gov.uk
be cautious about what information you share externally, particularly on social media.

If you suspect an attempted fraud or feel you have been the subject of fraud, you can contact:

RPA’s Fraud Referral Team on 0800 347 347 or FraudInConfidence@rpa.gov.uk
Action Fraud (the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cyber-crime) on 0300 123 2040.

Question 2

2 How  Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier works

Accepted Answer

Read about the main elements of Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier.

2.1 Introducing the Mid Tier

Mid Tier offers grant payments to support activities that benefit your local environment. You can apply for a combination of grants that are most relevant to your business.

Grants are available as:

management options – multi-year grants, payments made every year for 5 years
capital items – a range of 2 year grants for specific capital works.

You can access Mid Tier grants through 2 different routes:

Mid Tier – choose this route for a wide range of management options and capital grants. This route helps you do more to support your local environment. The application process is competitive so your application will be scored and ranked in line with available budget. If the demand is higher than the available budget we will prioritise applications based on environmental benefits. Annex 3 sets out the scoring process.
The Wildlife Offers - choose this route for a range of management options that focus on providing habitats for farm wildlife. It’s non-competitive and is the quickest and easiest way to apply for the Mid Tier.

You can have a Mid Tier agreement or Wildlife Offer and a standalone Countryside Stewardship Protection and Infrastructure or Capital Grants agreement on the same land parcel, as long as the options are compatible. You can check Capital Grants option compatibility using Countryside Stewardship grants (known as the ‘grant finder’) on GOV.UK.

If your application is successful, we will make you an agreement offer. If you accept the agreement offer, your Countryside Stewardship Agreement will start on 1 January 2023.

The payment amount you receive for your agreement will depend on the options and capital items you choose and compliance with your agreement.

2.2 The grants available in Mid Tier

Mid Tier gives you access to a wide range of options and capital items. You can choose those most relevant to your farm business and local environmental priorities. You can find the Countryside Stewardship statements of priorities on GOV.UK.

2.2.1 Management options

Management options are available to help you to:

manage land for the benefit of local wildlife
provide sources of nectar and pollen for insect pollinators
provide winter food and nesting habitats for farmland birds
support local priority habitats, such as:
species-rich grasslands
wetlands, rivers, streams, ponds and ditches
hedges, orchards, wood pastures and parklands
manage flood-risk in your local area
reduce soil erosion and improve water quality
convert and manage land to organic certification standards
manage and maintain landscape features
maintain traditional farm buildings
manage features of archaeological interest
manage Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and scheduled monuments
manage water and air pollution

2.2.2 Capital grants

The Mid Tier allows you to include capital items in your application. Capital grants are available to help you to:

manage and maintain the boundaries on your holding including hedgerows, dry-stone walls, stock fencing and gates
manage water and air pollution and improve water quality in a high and medium water quality priority area for your farm business and your local water catchment, including:
providing hard bases for livestock drinking and feeding
providing livestock with alternative drinking sources - away from watercourses and ponds
installing storage tanks, lined bio-beds, and livestock troughs
improvement to yards, gates, culverts and tracks, to reduce soil erosion, and reduce sediment and pollution entering a watercourse
improvement to yards and infrastructure to reduce ammonia emissions
where appropriate, installing woody debris dams, structures and seepage barriers to address flood risk management issues

2.2.3 Countryside Stewardship capital grants applications

If you are in a high or medium water quality priority area, you can make an application that only includes capital items intended to improve water quality. These capital-only agreements have a maximum value of £20,000.

Read Annex 5 for information on choosing water and air quality grants.

For information about applying for water capital grants, read the Countryside Stewardship 2022: Capital Grants manual.

2.2.4 Organic management and conversion options

You can apply for organic management and conversion options in combination with other grants, or you can make an application that only includes organic options.

The organic management and conversion options within your application are not scored. Read Section 4.4.7 for further information on applications that include organic options.

2.2.5 Choosing a Wild Pollinator and Farm Wildlife Package (WPFWP)

Your farm business could benefit from a WPFWP. This package groups management options together. This will help you to provide farmland wildlife with the essential resources it needs to thrive and breed successfully. This package is separate from the Wildlife Offers, in Section 2.2.6.

If you meet the minimum criteria for the package, your score will automatically increase. You can find more information in Annex 4.

2.2.6 The Wildlife Offers

There are 4 Wildlife Offers to help you to support the wildlife on your farm. The Offers group selected management options together, so you can help birds, pollinators and other farmed wildlife thrive and breed successfully.

Wildlife Offers help you to provide:

sources of nectar and pollen for insect pollinators
winter food for seed-eating birds
improved habitats, especially for farmland birds and pollinators.

You receive an annual payment each year for 5 years. The amount you receive depends on the options you choose and compliance with your agreement.

Benefits of Wildlife Offers include:

a quicker and easier way to apply for funding
applications are non-competitive, so if you meet minimum eligibility requirements for the offer we will make you an agreement offer
selected Mid Tier options, so you can choose those most relevant to your farm business and local priorities

You can choose from:

Arable Offer
Lowland Grazing Offer
Mixed Farming Offer
Upland Offer

Only some of the Mid Tier options are available in the Wildlife Offers. If you want to access other multi-year management options, you should apply for the Mid Tier. If you want to apply for capital items, you can apply for any of the following:

the Mid Tier
the Countryside Stewardship Capital Grants, in addition to a Wildlife Offer agreement
the Countryside Stewardship Protection and Infrastructure Grant.

Read Section 5 for more information on the Wildlife Offers package.

2.2.7 Scoring

If you apply for any of the above your application will be scored and then ranked. If the demand is higher than the available budget, we will prioritise applications based on environmental benefits. The highest scoring, eligible applications will be offered an agreement, subject to the available budget. Wildlife Offers and the organic offers are the exception, as they are non-competitive, so they are not scored.

You can read how to improve your application score in Section 4.4. For a full guide to scoring, read Annex 3.

2.3 Eligibility

You must meet the eligibility requirements for the scheme - you can find these in Section 3. If you choose the Wildlife Offers you must also read Section 5 to check that you are eligible.

You must also meet the eligibility requirements for the options and capital items that you choose.

2.4 Choosing management options and capital items

When choosing which grants to include in your application, read Section 4 for guidance. Certain grants for management of priority habitat, priority water catchments and air quality require prior endorsement or approval:

For priority habitats, contact RPA by 27 May 2022. If your land does not appear as a priority habitat on MAGIC, you may need to contact Natural England by 28 February 2022 (see section 4.8.2).
For management options and capital items which relate to water quality and air quality, please contact Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) at least 10 weeks before you intend to submit your application, otherwise your request will not be considered.

Read Section 4.8 for more information.

2.5 Making an application and important dates

To apply for the Mid Tier or Wildlife Offers, you can apply online through the Rural Payments service until 29 July or request an application pack online by 5 July. Read Section 4 for more information.

For the Wildlife Offers, you do not need an application pack. You can simply apply online in the Rural Payments service by 29 July.

To apply on paper, you will need to contact us to request an application pack by 27 May.

When to apply

You can apply for Mid Tier, including the Wildlife Offers, from 8 February to 29 July. We will not accept any applications we receive after this date.

Important dates for all Mid Tier applications:

Date	Details
8 February	CS application period opens for agreements that will start on 1 January 2023
28 February	Last date to provide Natural England with evidenced requests to make changes to the Priority Habitats inventory (see section 4.8.2 for details)
20 May	Last date to request Catchment Sensitive Farming approval for grants for management of high or medium water catchments or air quality (see Annex 5 for a full list of options)
27 May	Last date to request a CS Mid Tier paper application pack by email or phone Last date to request approval for management options for priority habitats and species
5 July (midnight)	Last date to request application pack online (if you are applying online you do not need to request an application pack)
29 July	Last date to submit application for Mid Tier online or the Wildlife Offers, with required supporting information Application period closes. Deadline for us to receive valid applications and any required supporting information
by 31 December	Agreement offer and declaration sent to customer for agreements that will start on 1 January 2023
1 January 2023	Start date for CS Mid Tier 2023 agreements applied for in 2022
16 May	Deadline for us to receive revenue claim forms without penalty

2.6 Agreements and agreement duration

If your application is successful, we will make you an agreement offer. If you accept your agreement offer, this will become your Countryside Stewardship Agreement. Agreements begin on 1 January 2023. To accept an agreement offer you must sign the declaration and return it to us.

2.6.1 Agreement duration

Mid Tier agreements, including the Wildlife Offers, last 5 years from the agreement start date. The capital works within a Mid Tier agreement must be completed in the first 2 years of the 5-year Mid Tier agreement.

Section 5.5 explains what happens after you submit an application that includes the Wildlife Offers. If your application does not include the Wildlife Offers, read Section 4.13.

2.6.2 Changes to agreements

You will be expected to meet all the requirements of your agreement.

It’s important that there is consistent management during the period of the agreement to make sure that the environmental benefits are achieved.

You may, in limited circumstances, make changes to your agreement but we must approve these in writing in advance. Read Section 7.9 for more information.

2.7 Payments and Agreement claims

You will need to complete and submit a claim form to receive payment. Read Section 7 for information about which options or capital items you can claim for, and the deadlines for making payment claims.

3 Who can apply and what land is eligible

You must read and meet the requirements detailed in this section as these are mandatory for all Mid Tier agreements, including the Wildlife Offers. For the Wildlife Offers, you must also read Section 5.

3.1 Eligible land

3.1.1 What land you can enter into the scheme

To be eligible for Mid Tier, including the Wildlife Offers, land must be one of the following:

an agricultural area (defined as any area taken up by arable land, permanent grassland or permanent crops)
a terrestrial Priority Habitat – read UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) Priority Habitats
land that supports a Priority Species – read UK BAP Priority Species
a protected site, including:
Special Areas of Conservation (SAC), including proposed SACs
Special Protection Areas (SPA), including proposed SPAs
Ramsar sites – read the Ramsar Convention on GOV.UK
For Mid Tier only, Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) – read Find protected areas of countryside

Protected sites are not eligible for the Wildlife Offers.

There is no minimum area that you must enter into the scheme, although there are minimum areas for individual management options and capital items. Check ‘Countryside Stewardship grants’ (known as the ‘grant finder’) on GOV.UK for the minimum area requirements for individual options and capital item grants, before you apply for them.

3.1.2 Ineligible land

The following land is not eligible for the scheme:

developed land and hard standing, including permanent caravan sites and areas used for permanent storage. Eligible exceptions include:
traditional farm buildings that are eligible for grants under Countryside Stewardship
yards, tracks and farm buildings proposed for management through Countryside Stewardship capital items
land parcels that have solar panels for generating electricity for use off-farm – read Section 3.1.9
areas (1 hectare or more) of permanent standing or running water
land already entered into another scheme - read Section 3.4
land that is already subject to another obligation that is incompatible with Countryside Stewardship
common land and shared grazing – you must apply for a Higher Tier agreement on this land
land parcels that are not entirely within England
land where you do not have management control for the period of the agreement and you are not able to have your application countersigned by the landowner – read Section 3.2
land within the High Speed Two (HS2) route safeguarding zone

3.1.3 Applications from land managers operating multiple farm businesses

If your SBI operates more than one farming business, you can submit more than one application for a Mid Tier or Higher Tier agreement in the same year. The applications must cover different land parcels as you cannot include an individual land parcel in more than one agreement at any time, unless the existing agreement is for 10 or 20 years and the options are compatible.

Each application will be scored separately on its own merit.

If you intend to submit more than one application in any application round, you must contact us.

For approval of items listed in Annex 5, Catchment Sensitive Farming will only assess one application for each individually managed SBI in any rolling 12-month period.

3.1.4 Application and agreement land

Agreement land can only include land that is eligible for Countryside Stewardship. Agreement land must include the following:

any land parcel that will contain a paid management option or capital item at any time during the agreement period
any eligible land parcel that is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) or a Scheduled Monument (SM), whether or not there are paid management options or capital items on that land.

A holding with SSSI land is not eligible for the Wildlife Offers.

These parcels will become the Agreement Land and must meet the requirements set out at Section 6.2.

3.1.5 Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Scheduled Monuments

All land that is eligible for Countryside Stewardship that is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) or Scheduled Monument (SM) must be included in your application.

The SSSI or SM land must be appropriately managed and any paid management options or capital items must not cause damage.

If your land contains a SSSI, you cannot apply for one of the 4 Wildlife Offer agreements.

Your local Natural England adviser can advise on:

SSSI management
whether a Countryside Stewardship agreement is appropriate
what to do if there are no suitable grants available.

For more information read ‘Sites of special scientific interest: managing your land’ on GOV.UK. Historic England can provide free advice on SM management.

When you apply for Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier:

you must include your SSSI or SM land parcel(s) with appropriate CS management options or your application will be rejected - the only exception is if you have written confirmation from Natural England or Historic England that shows the site is under favourable management, meaning you can apply without options on the SSSI or SM land parcels
where the site is not currently in good condition, you must choose options and/or capital items to improve its condition, unless there are no suitable grants available
for sites already in good condition, you should choose grants to maintain the site in that condition
where the condition of a SSSI is affected by your management of land outside the SSSI boundary, you must choose options and/or capital items to support favourable condition of the SSSI
you must apply for Higher Tier if there are no suitable Mid Tier options available and the only suitable option is available through Higher Tier

Your application will be rejected if it:

does not include areas of SSSI and/or SM on your holding
includes grant choices that could damage the SSSI or SM
does not support the favourable condition of the SSSI or SM
includes grant choices on the surrounding land parcels that would have a negative impact on the SSSI and/or SM.

You must hold, or arrange for, appropriate consent from Natural England or Historic England to cover management of the SSSI or SM before an agreement can start. Read Section 4.9 for information on how to get consent.

3.1.6 European sites

A ‘European site’ is designated as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC), or proposed SAC, or a Special Protection Area (SPA). All Ramsar sites and potential SPAs are treated as European sites under the scheme.

If you are planning activity on, or next to, a European site, before any agreement offer can be made, Natural England or the Forestry Commission must complete a Habitats Regulation Assessment.

An application will be rejected if the assessment finds the proposed activity would have an adverse impact on the European site.

Activity necessary to conserve the special features of the European sites will usually be allowed. However, some multi-year options or capital items may be assessed in more detail.

3.1.7 Protected species

Some species are partly or fully protected by legislation. Examples of the most common protected wildlife include:

all wild birds and their eggs and nests that are in use or being built are protected under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981
bats, otters, dormice, great crested newts, and other European protected species (including plant species) of more restricted distributions are protected by Part 3 of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017. These European Protected Species are protected, in the case of animal species, from disturbance and damage to the places they use to rest and shelter (for example, bat roosts and otter holts); in the case of plant species, from collecting, uprooting or destruction.

If you have protected species on your land, you must consider and meet the requirements for protection which apply to those species before carrying out any management activities. For more information, check Managing wildlife on your land on GOV.UK.

By choosing appropriate scheme options, you can help to maintain suitable habitats for protected species.

3.1.8 Organic Land

If you have land that is registered as organic or in conversion to organic status, it is eligible for Countryside Stewardship, provided other eligibility criteria are met. The scheme provides funding for Organic Management and Conversion. Read Section 4.4.7 for details.

3.1.9 Land parcels with solar panels

Land parcels that contain solar panels for generating electricity for use off-farm are ineligible for Countryside Stewardship.

You cannot erect panels on agreement land where there are management options. If the panels are concentrated at one end of a field, the rest of the land can be eligible if the 2 areas are registered as individual land parcels and separated by a permanent boundary. Read the RLE1 guidance on GOV.UK for information on how to request updates to your digital maps. Solar panels powering electric fencing for livestock control or water pumping which support agreement objectives are permitted.

3.1.10 Integrated pest management

Many of the CS options can contribute to an Integrated Pest Management approach, enabling you to benefit wildlife by reducing the use of chemicals and pesticides whilst still achieving your yields. The options that do this are listed at annex 7 and would greatly enhance the wildlife and biodiversity on your holding.

3.2 Management control: eligibility and scheme rules

You must have management control of all the land and all the activities needed to meet the requirements of the management options and/or capital items you select for the full period of the Countryside Stewardship agreement.

If you do not have full control of the land and all such activities, you must get the written consent of all other parties who have management control of the land and activities for the entire period of the agreement. Read below for more details on how to do this. You should also read Section 3.3.1, about ‘dual use’.

3.2.1 Tenants

If you are including land in a Countryside Stewardship application that you occupy under a tenancy, including under the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986, Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995 (a Farm Business Tenancy) or equivalent, you must have:

management control of this land for the duration of any commitments (which may extend beyond the agreement period)
control of all the activities needed to meet the scheme requirements for the chosen Countryside Stewardship multi-year options and capital items
security of tenure for the full period of the Countryside Stewardship agreement – if you will have security of tenure for less than 5 years starting from 1 January 2023, you must get the countersignature of your landlord as part of your application (using the Land ownership and Control Form on GOV.UK).

If that is not possible, that part of your land is not eligible to be included in your Countryside Stewardship application.

You must have the agreement of your landlord or the landowner before you apply. If you are a tenant, including under the Agricultural Holding Act 1986, Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995 (a Farm Business Tenancy) or equivalent, it is your responsibility to check that by joining Countryside Stewardship you do not breach the terms of your tenancy.

If a landlord takes over a Countryside Stewardship agreement from you once your tenancy has ended, they must be eligible to do so. For example, they must not be an ineligible public body.

3.2.2 Landlords

If you are a landlord and can show that you have management control over the land, which has been let to a tenant, and the activities, you can include that land in a Countryside Stewardship application.

As the Agreement Holder, you must give your tenant a copy of the Countryside Stewardship agreement. You may need to provide written evidence, if requested, that you have given your tenant a copy of the agreement. It is your responsibility to make sure that your tenant does not breach the terms of the agreement. If your tenant will be using the same land to claim for the Basic Payment Scheme, read Section 3.3.1 about ‘dual use’.

3.2.3 Partnerships

If you are in a business partnership, you can apply for Countryside Stewardship. The person submitting the application must have the appropriate permission levels in the Rural Payments service. Read section 4.6 for more information.

3.2.4 Licensors

If you are a licensor, you can apply for a Countryside Stewardship agreement. It is your responsibility to make sure that the licensee does not breach the terms of the Countryside Stewardship agreement.

You must make sure that the licensee is aware of the requirements of the agreement, as relevant to the licence, and include these in the licence agreement.

3.2.5 Licensees

If you only have access to land under a licence arrangement, you cannot usually apply for a Countryside Stewardship agreement. This is because a licensee will not have sufficient management control of the land and will be ineligible. However, if, in practice, your agreement with the landowner gives you wider land management responsibilities, this may mean you are a tenant, not a licensee, and you may be eligible. If this is the case, you will need to show that you have sufficient management control of the land and activities to be able to apply.

3.2.6 Land owned by public bodies

Land owned or run by a public body is in general not eligible for Countryside Stewardship. If you are a tenant of a public body, you will need to check with your landlord if the land is eligible for Countryside Stewardship.

Countryside Stewardship cannot pay for any environmental management that is already required through:

payment from EU and Exchequer funds
grant aid from any other public body
any other form of legally binding obligation including tenancies.

This means that Crown bodies and non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) are not eligible for the scheme. This includes those that are Trading Funds or those that do not receive funding direct from the Exchequer.

Crown bodies include all government departments and their executive agencies, for example:

Ministry of Defence
Forestry Commission

NDPBs are public bodies that have a role in the processes of national government but are not a government department and are not part of one. These include:

Environment Agency
Natural England
Historic England
National Forest Company

Parish councils and former college farms are not considered to be public bodies and so are eligible to apply for Countryside Stewardship.

The following table provides more detailed eligibility criteria for public bodies:

Body/Organisation	Eligibility	Additional Information
Government departments, executive agencies and NDPBs (for example, Ministry of Defence, Forestry Commission)	Ineligible	None
Other public bodies (for example, local authorities, National Park authorities and public corporations)	Eligible	Provided the work does not form part of their obligations as a public body.
Parish Councils and former college farms	Eligible	None
Tenants of eligible public bodies	Eligible	Ineligible where the work is already a requirement of the tenancy agreement. The public body must countersign the application if the tenant does not have security of tenure for the full term of the agreement.
Tenants of ineligible public bodies	Eligible	Ineligible where the work is already a requirement of the tenancy agreement. Tenants must have security of tenure for the full term of the agreement, as the public body cannot countersign the application.

3.2.7 Common land and shared grazing

Common land and shared grazing is not eligible for Mid Tier. It is only eligible for the Higher Tier of Countryside Stewardship.

3.2.8 Business Viability Test

We will check all applicants against an insolvency register. If we assess your application as not financially viable, we may not offer you an agreement.

Applications involving capital expenditure over certain limits will require additional evidence and undergo additional checks. Read Section 4.11.2 for more information.

3.3 Relationship with the Basic Payment Scheme

If you are using land to claim the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), you may also enter that same land into a Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier agreement.

Some land that is ineligible for BPS may still be eligible for Countryside Stewardship. For example, features such as ponds, areas of scrub and woodland which are ineligible for BPS can be eligible for Countryside Stewardship options.

You must read the latest BPS rules on GOV.UK.

It is your responsibility to make sure that you have correctly declared your BPS land use codes. They need to show the relevant land use and cover that is going to be appropriate for the Countryside Stewardship options that you are applying for. Options will be removed from your application if they are not compatible with the declared land use and cover.

When you include land parcels in a Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier application that have been used to claim BPS in the same year, we will check that the Countryside Stewardship management option applied for is compatible with the BPS land use and cover you have declared.

It is the BPS land use and cover declared in the year you apply that we will check for your Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier application, even though the Countryside Stewardship agreement start date is 1 January 2023. If you are applying online, you will need to make sure you have added the correct land codes to apply your chosen options.

Where you use Countryside Stewardship Agreement Land to claim BPS, we will check to make sure that the land use code entered for each land parcel is compatible with the Countryside Stewardship management. This will be the land use declared in the same year that the Countryside Stewardship annual claim is submitted. This means that when you apply for certain Countryside Stewardship options, you need to consider how they will affect your future BPS payments.

When including land parcels in your Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier application, you should note that:

some Countryside Stewardship grassland options can only be located on land declared with a land use of permanent grassland on the BPS claim
you can only locate Countryside Stewardship arable options on land declared with a land use of temporary grassland or other arable land use on the BPS claim
land used to grow grasses or other herbaceous forage naturally or through cultivation, and that has not been included in the crop rotation for five years or more, should be declared as permanent grassland and is not eligible for arable options. If the land converts from temporary grassland to permanent grassland during your agreement, the arable option will become ineligible. The exceptions to this are where arable options are intended to create or revert land to permanent grassland
all your land codes (use and cover) need to be up to date for you to use that land in a Mid Tier Online application

You can find information on the compatible land use classes for each option using ‘Countryside Stewardship grants’ (known as the ‘grant finder’) on GOV.UK.

It is possible to have more than one Countryside Stewardship option in a single land parcel. If there is no permanent boundary between the options, you do not have to split the parcel into 2 separate land parcels on the Rural Payments service.

The soil and water options can only be used to provide a level of protection over and above that required by cross-compliance.

For more information about the BPS rules, or for guidance on declaring land that is in both Countryside Stewardship and BPS, read the relevant BPS rules or contact us on 03000 200 301.

Find the Rural Payments service land use codes on BPS rules on GOV.UK.

Land in some Countryside Stewardship options may become ineligible for BPS by the end of the Countryside Stewardship agreement. This can happen where agricultural land is changed to non-agricultural use and cannot be easily changed back to agricultural, for example, creating intertidal wetland.

3.3.1 Applying for Countryside Stewardship where someone else is claiming Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) on the same land (‘dual use’)

In certain circumstances, it is possible for a land parcel to be used by one Single Business Identifier (SBI) to claim BPS and that same land parcel to also be included in a Countryside Stewardship application submitted by someone else under their SBI. This is known as ‘dual use’.

If you are in a dual use situation you must be able to demonstrate that you are meeting the rules and eligibility requirements of the scheme you are claiming for and you must have a written record.

If you are the Countryside Stewardship applicant, you need to meet the Countryside Stewardship eligibility rules, including having ‘management control’ of the land included in your Countryside Stewardship application. The BPS applicant must show that they have the same land ‘at their disposal’ under the BPS rules (and meet BPS eligibility rules). If you have an agreement with another person who uses the land to apply for BPS, this does not mean that person has the land at their disposal. It is the rights and responsibilities held in relation to the land, and how they operate in practice, which determine this.

An example of ‘dual use’ is where a landlord has management control of the land for Countryside Stewardship while the tenant has the same land at their disposal to claim BPS.

If you are the Countryside Stewardship applicant, make sure you have a written record before the BPS application deadline (this will be 16 May in 2022) that is signed and dated by both parties. This written record could be a tenancy agreement, a letter, or both, which shows:

the rights and responsibilities you and the BPS applicant in the ‘dual use’ situation each have for the land
you have management control of the land and the BPS applicant has the land ‘at their disposal’
you have given a copy of the Countryside Stewardship Agreement Document and the terms and conditions (once you receive them) to the other party and that they must meet the terms and conditions (unless you can show that you are carrying out the required activities).

You must also make sure that the ‘dual use’ land parcels are linked to both SBIs in the digital maps in the Rural Payments service. The BPS applicant may need to transfer the land parcels to you using an electronic or paper RLE1 form. Read about how to do this in the RLE1 guidance on GOV.UK.

You may want to get independent professional advice, especially if you previously had a verbal agreement (rather than a written agreement) with the other party.

3.3.2 Lump Sum Exit Scheme

We plan to offer optional lump sum payments in 2022 for farmers who are BPS claimants and who wish to leave the industry. The lump sum will be in place of any further Direct Payments to the recipient during the remainder of the agricultural transition.

If you are considering applying for any Countryside Stewardship agreements to start in 2023 and wish to apply for the Lump Sum Exit Scheme, you may need to amend or withdraw your application, as it may no longer be valid. Detailed rules on the Lump Sum Exit Scheme will be announced in due course and will be available on GOV.UK.

3.4 Land receiving other funding

You cannot use Countryside Stewardship to pay for any environmental management that is already required:

by statutory duty, as detailed in Section 3.2.6
through payment from Exchequer funds
through grant aid from any other public body
under any other grant scheme or obligation
through any other form of legally binding obligation, including private contractual obligations for which you are receiving or have received funding from other sources.

This includes any land parcels you are using to participate in the pilot or early rollout of new environmental land management schemes.

3.4.1 Environmental Stewardship

We are keen to keep the environmental benefits of Environmental Stewardship through the uptake of new Countryside Stewardship agreements.

If you have been managing your land under an Environmental Stewardship agreement, you should find similar management options in Countryside Stewardship. There are differences between the schemes so you should read the Countryside Stewardship scheme and management option requirements carefully.

If your Environmental Stewardship agreement comes to an end in 2022, you can apply during 2022 for a Countryside Stewardship agreement to start on 1 January 2023.

If you already have an Environmental Stewardship agreement, you can only apply for Countryside Stewardship on the same land parcel if the Environmental Stewardship agreement expires before the Countryside Stewardship agreement starts. This is because individual land parcels cannot be in both schemes at the same time.

If a land parcel will still be under an Environmental Stewardship agreement when the Countryside Stewardship agreement starts, you cannot include that parcel in the Countryside Stewardship application.

You can only have Environmental Stewardship and Countryside Stewardship agreements running at the same time where they are on separate land parcels.

It is not possible to transfer early or convert from Environmental Stewardship (ELS or HLS) to Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier.

3.4.2 Countryside Stewardship scheme compatibilities

If you already have a 10- or 20-year CS Higher Tier agreement covering some of your land parcels, you can now apply for another CS Mid Tier agreement on the same land parcel. There must be no conflict in the requirements for each agreement and there is no duplication of the management required under different options.

If you already have a CS Mid Tier agreement covering some of your land parcels, you cannot apply for another CS multi-year options agreement on the same land parcels.

For both CS Mid Tier and Higher Tier and Capital Grants, you can apply for the eligible land parcels you manage under each SBI. An SBI can have an agreement under CS Mid Tier or Higher Tier and CS Capital Grants at the same time, as they are separate offers. You cannot apply for capital items on land parcels in an existing Capital Grants agreement until the capital works are completed and you have submitted your final claim.

You can have a Wildlife Offer and a separate Countryside Stewardship Capital Grants agreement on the same land parcel.

If you have written endorsement from a Forestry Commission Woodland Adviser, or Natural England Adviser, you may:

apply for a Countryside Stewardship Implementation Plan (PA1), Feasibility Study (PA2), Woodland Management Plan (PA3) or Woodland Tree Health grant agreement on the same land parcels
apply for a Higher Tier capital only agreement on parcels with a woodland multi-year option in place
apply for a Higher Tier woodland agreement (WD2) on parcels already in an agreement with woodland capital items.

You cannot apply for a grant for capital works which you are required to carry out under other obligations or for which you are receiving or have received funding from other sources. We will carry out checks to make sure that capital works are not funded twice from public money.

3.4.3 Environmental Land Management schemes

Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot

Land parcels already in a Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot standards agreement are not eligible for Mid Tier, including the Wildlife Offers.

There is a separate Countryside Stewardship Capital Grants offer for Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot participants to support delivery of the pilot standards. If you are a pilot participant, please read the GOV.UK pages for more information.

Sustainable Farming Incentive early rollout

We will launch the first round of the Sustainable Farming Incentive in 2022. When it opens, farmers who are eligible for the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) will be eligible for the Sustainable Farming Incentive.

Land parcels already in a CS agreement (including CS Capital Grants) will be eligible for the Sustainable Farming Incentive in 2022 provided they meet the respective scheme eligibility requirements and the Sustainable Farming Incentive standards chosen are compatible with the existing CS option, so you are not paid twice for carrying out the same or similar activities on the same land.

You can enter land parcels into both a CS agreement and a Sustainable Farming Incentive early rollout agreement if they meet the respective scheme eligibility requirements. However, the CS option chosen must be compatible with the Sustainable Farming Incentive standard selected for the land parcel(s).

You cannot be paid twice for carrying out the same or similar activities on the same land. For example, if you are already being paid for establishing a cover crop under a CS option on land that is at risk of soil erosion or surface runoff, then you will not be able to enter that same land into the Sustainable Farming Incentive arable and horticultural soils standard where similar activities are required.

You may however be able to establish cover crops on land on other parts of your holding, where appropriate. We will publish more information about the compatibility of CS options with Sustainable Farming Incentive standards on GOV.UK.

Local Nature Recovery

We plan to make an early version of Local Nature Recovery available to a limited number of people in 2023 and expand this as we roll out the scheme more widely by the end of 2024. We will publish more information about the scheme, including how CS agreement holders can take part, later this year.

More information on Local Nature Recovery can be read on GOV.UK.

Landscape Recovery

Customers with a Mid Tier or Wildlife Offer Countryside Stewardship agreement can also apply for a Landscape Recovery agreement. Defra will work with Landscape Recovery applicants during the project development phase on how to transition Mid Tier, including Wildlife Offers, Agreement Holders fully into Landscape Recovery and avoid double funding.

More information on Landscape Recovery can be read on GOV.UK.

3.4.4 Conservation Enhancement Scheme, Wildlife Enhancement Scheme or Section 15 Management agreements

If you have land that is classed as a SSSI, you may be receiving payments under Natural England’s Conservation Enhancement Scheme (CES), Wildlife Enhancement Scheme (WES) or a section 15 management agreement.

Generally, you cannot locate Countryside Stewardship options on these land parcels. Eligibility for Countryside Stewardship payments will depend on the specific requirements of the CES/WES/S15 agreement and are decided on a case-by-case basis.

3.4.5 English Woodland Grant Scheme (EWGS) and England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO)

You can apply for Countryside Stewardship options on land parcels covered by an EWGS Management Planning Grant and certain capital grants (for example, Woodland Improvement Grant (WIG)) if this does not result in you being paid twice for the same items or activities and the Countryside Stewardship options do not conflict with any ongoing EWGS requirements.

You cannot apply for Countryside Stewardship options on land parcels covered by a multi-annual English Woodland Grant Scheme agreement, England Woodland Creation Offer agreement, Farm Woodland Payment (FWP), Farm Woodland Premium Scheme (FWPS) or Farm Woodland Scheme (FWS) while you are still receiving annual payments for them. The only exception to this is where a Countryside Stewardship Protection and Infrastructure Grant is applied for to support EWCO.

3.4.6 Heritage Lottery Funding (HLF)

Some HLF applications can be considered for Countryside Stewardship as a source of complementary or partnership funding, but only where the Countryside Stewardship payments are for separate works.

Where Countryside Stewardship agreements within an area-wide project have started less than 12 months before the HLF application, the payments will be considered as complementary funding.

3.4.7 Scheduled Monuments (SM)

In some cases you may already receive funding for SMs to help manage the site, area or building. This includes grants from Historic England (formerly English Heritage) under a Management Agreement for Field Monuments or a Repair Grant for Heritage at Risk.

This land may also be eligible for Countryside Stewardship provided you do not receive any other grant or funding for the same activity.

3.4.8 Fruit & Vegetables Producer Organisation Aid Scheme

Management funded under the Fruit and Vegetable Producer Organisation Aid Scheme (for example, Operation Bumble Bee) cannot also be funded under Countryside Stewardship.

3.4.9 Inheritance Tax or Capital Gains exemptions

If you have an SBI that is subject to an Inheritance Tax exemption agreement with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), it is not eligible for the Wildlife Offers but may be eligible for the Mid Tier.

Countryside Stewardship options and capital items may be available on land designated by HMRC as conditionally exempt from Inheritance Tax or as the object of a Maintenance Fund (heritage property), depending on the specific undertakings and proposed options or capital items. Read Inheritance tax and capital gains exemption: Countryside Stewardship to find out whether options and capital items are always eligible, or never eligible, or need checking to make sure that options do not overlap with the obligations of the undertakings.

You are recommended to look at the conditional exemption undertakings for your land before applying for Countryside Stewardship so that you choose options that are most likely to succeed.

3.4.10 National Park Authority and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) grant schemes

National Park Authority or Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) grant schemes can include both annual payments for land management and capital works.

Generally, you cannot combine Countryside Stewardship with other sources of funding for the same annual land management or capital works in the same location.

However, National Park Authority and AONB grant schemes such as the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme are designed to fund management not covered by Countryside Stewardship or other schemes, or for measures over and above the requirements of other schemes. Please contact your National Park Authority or AONB for details.

3.4.11 Capital Grants under Countryside Productivity, Growth Programme, LEADER, Water Environment Grant, Woodland Carbon Fund, HS2 Woodland Fund, Farming Recovery Fund, Nature for Climate Fund, Farming Investment Fund, and other capital grants

Countryside Stewardship cannot fund works that form part of these, or similar, schemes or grants.

3.4.12 Land that is under another obligation such as planning permission or section 106 requirements

Countryside Stewardship cannot fund works that must be undertaken as a requirement of:

any planning permission
a section 106 agreement or equivalent
restoring or remediating any works undertaken illegally

Question 3

4 How  to apply for Mid Tier

Accepted Answer

This section helps with all application routes, but the step by step guides shown in Sections 4.1 and 4.2 do not apply to Wildlife Offers. To apply for a Wildlife Offer, follow the step by step process in Section 5.

Before you apply, you need to decide which type of Mid Tier agreement to apply for. Read Section 2.2 for more information.

4.1 Mid Tier Online application route: step by step guide

We encourage you to apply for Mid Tier through the Online application route, if you’re able to.

Step 1 – Before you apply

read the guidance in this section and section 4.3
consider applying for the Wildlife Offers – read Section 5
find out about the options and capital items you can include in your application. Grants are available as management options or capital items – read Section 4.4
register in the Rural Payments service if you have not already done so. Make sure that all land parcels you want to include in your application are registered in the Rural Payments service, linked to your SBI, and have the correct boundaries and land cover – read Section 4.5 and the Countryside Stewardship mapping guidance for applicants for further information
if you prefer to use an agent, you will need to authorise them to act for you - read Section 4.6
make sure you have the correct permission levels you need in the Rural Payments service to complete the application, or for others to act for you, for example an agent - read Section 4.6
if you’re in a Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund Group, you can contact your facilitator for advice - read Section 4.8.3
if you want to use management options for priority habitats and species, you may have to supply Natural England with evidence to request changes to the Priority Habitats inventory by 28 February - read section 4.8.2

Step 2 – Make your application in the Rural Payments service

Sign into the Rural Payments service.
Create your Countryside Stewardship application by following the How to apply online for Mid Tier guidance.
If you have Scheduled Monuments or other historic features on your land, you will need a Historic Environment Farm Environmental Record (HEFER) that is less than 3 years old and covers all the land in your application. Follow the instructions in the HEFER guidance letter, available in the Rural Payments service, to do this.
For the Wildlife Offers, read Section 5.

Step 3 – Request advice, approvals, endorsements, consents and permissions (if relevant) – read Section 4.8

Make sure you have the relevant consents, approvals and endorsements you need to support your application.
If your holding is a priority for Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) support, please contact CSF for advice at least 10 weeks before you submit your application. Please note that there will be no guarantee of CSF support.
If you want to use Mid Tier options listed in Section 4.8.2 (except for option UP2 - Management of rough grazing for birds) you will need to request endorsement by 31 May 2022.

Step 4 – Start to complete your online application

Complete your online application by following the How to apply online for Mid Tier guidance.
Complete the Farm Environment Record (FER) – read section 4.10.1. (As part of this you must identify fields with run-off and soil erosion risk.)
Check the HEFER response (if applicable) – read section 4.10.2.

Step 5 - Choose which options and capital items to apply for – read Section 4.4

You should have now gathered information about the environmental priorities on your holding.

Step 6 – Complete, review and submit your application

When you have completed your application by following the How to apply online for Mid Tier guidance, select ‘Yes’ in the Declarations section. You will then be able to submit your application.

Step 7 - Include all required supporting information with your application – read Section 4.11

You must submit your application and any required supporting documents by 29 July.

Before you submit your application, check that you have all the relevant documents you need:

forms
supporting documents

If you have requested consents or permissions at Step 3, you must have these in place now.

Sending documents by email

You can scan and email your supporting documents to ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk.

You must put your SBI and Application ID number in the email and on all documents and use ‘Application – CS –Mid Tier’ as the email subject heading.

The maximum size of emails we can accept is 32MB.

Do not include links to cloud storage, such as Dropbox or Google Drive, as we cannot accept documents or evidence this way.

For security reasons, we cannot accept discs, USB pen drives or other external storage media.

You can send digital photos by email, but do not scan printed photos as the quality is not good enough. Read section 6.4.5 for more information.

Sending documents by post

If you are unable to email your documents to us, you can post them using the address in the ‘More information and Contact details’ section.

Remember to add your SBI to all documents you send to us. We recommend you get proof of posting.

4.2 Mid Tier application pack route: step by step guide

Step 1 - Before you apply

read the guidance in this section
consider applying for the Wildlife Offers – read Section 5
find out about the options and capital items you can include in your application. Grants are available as management options or capital items – read Section 4.4
register in the Rural Payments service if you have not already done so. Make sure that all land parcels you want to include in your application are registered in the Rural Payments service, linked to your SBI, and have the correct boundaries and land cover – read Section 4.5 and the Countryside Stewardship mapping guidance for applicants for further information
if you prefer to use an agent, you will need to authorise them to act for you - read Section 4.6
make sure you have the correct permission levels you need in the Rural Payments service to fill in the application, or for others to act for you, for example an agent - read Section 4.6
if you’re in a Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund Group, you can contact your facilitator for advice - read Section 4.8.3
if you want to use management options for priority habitats and species, you may have to supply Natural England with evidence to request changes to the Priority Habitats inventory by 28 February - read section 4.8.2

Step 2 - Request a Mid Tier application pack by 27 May 2022

Request your Mid Tier application pack online in the Rural Payments service – read Section 4.7 for details.
If you have Scheduled Monuments or other historic features on your land, you will need a Historic Environment Farm Environmental Record (HEFER) that is less than 3 years old and covers all the land in your application. Read the HEFER guidance letter included in your application pack to find out how to register and request the HEFER through the HEFER portal.
For the Wildlife Offers, read Section 5.

Step 3 – Request advice, approvals, endorsements, consents and permissions (if relevant) – read Section 4.9

Make sure you have the correct permission levels you need in the Rural Payments service to fill in the application, or for others to act for you, for example an agent - read Section 4.6.
Make sure you have the relevant consents, approvals and endorsements you need to support your application.
If your holding is a high or medium priority for Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) support, please contact Catchment Sensitive Farming at least 10 weeks before you submit your application. Please note that there will be no guarantee of CSF support.
Request endorsement to use Mid Tier options listed in Section 4.8.2 (except for option UP2 - Management of rough grazing for birds) by 31 May 2022.

Step 4 – When you receive the application pack

check all details are correct for each land parcel
check that all land parcels you want included are in your application pack. For parcels to be included they must be registered in the Rural Payments service. (If you need new land parcel numbers, fill in an RLE1 form and send it to us with sketch maps.) Read Section 4.5 for more information.

Step 5 – Start to fill in your application

Complete the first sections of your application form.
Complete the Farm Environment Record (FER) – read section 4.10.1. (As part of this you must identify fields with run-off and soil erosion risk.)
Check the HEFER response (if applicable) – read section 4.10.2.

Step 6 - Choose which options and capital items to apply for – read Section 4.4

You should have now gathered information about the environmental priorities on your holding.

Use the information you have gathered and read Section 4.3 to help you decide which grants to apply for.
Use the guidance in your application pack to help you fill in your choice of grants on your Mid Tier Application Form Annexes.

Step 7 – Include all required supporting information with your application – read Section 4.11

You must submit your application and any required supporting documents by 29 July.

Before you submit your application, check that you have all the relevant documents you need:

forms
supporting documents

If you have requested consent or permission at Step 3, you must have this in place now.

Step 8 – Complete and submit your application

Fill in the remaining sections of your application form using the guidance to help you.
Submit your completed application form, annexes, options map(s), FER map(s) and other supporting documents.

To email your application to us

Make sure that you have the correct permission levels in the Rural Payments service.
Make sure that the email address you use to send the application is registered for the business in the Rural Payments service.
Reply to the email we sent you when you requested your application form. Attach your application to your reply email with any required documents – you no longer have to print and sign your application. (By replying to our email rather than sending a new email, your application will automatically be forwarded to the correct team, rather than waiting in a queue to be sorted manually.)

If you cannot reply to the original email

put ‘Application – CS – Mid Tier’ in the subject heading of your email to us
include your SBI and Application ID number in your email
send your email to ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk

If you cannot email your application

Return a paper application form if you need to. Sign it and post it to us, with any supporting documents, using our contact details in Annex 8. (You must submit the original form that was sent to you, as we cannot accept a copy.)
You must put your SBI and Application ID number on everything you send to us.
We recommend that you get proof of postage for any documents you send to us by post. You should keep a copy of your completed application form and your FER and Options maps.
We must receive your complete application by 29 July.

4.3 General support and guidance

You can read all Countryside Stewardship guidance on GOV.UK.

For general Mid Tier enquiries, contact us by:

Rural Payments Agency (CS)
PO Box 324
Worksop
S95 1DF

To find out if any Mid Tier advice events are available in your area or via online webinar, visit GOV.UK or contact us using the details at Annex 8.

If you have land in a National Park, you can contact the National Park Authority to find out if you can get advice on making a strong application. You can find the contact details for your National Park Authority by searching for them on GOV.UK.

4.4 How to choose options and capital items

You should consider the types of options and capital items to include in your application at an early stage. This will give you time to request any advice, approvals, consents or permissions.

You can choose from a wide range of options and capital items in the Mid Tier scheme. It is important that you choose options that address your local environmental priorities. This will also improve your application’s score.

Make sure the options and capital items you choose are suitable for your land and that you will be able to meet the management requirements for the length of the agreement.

Air quality items are limited to £120,000 and Boundary items are limited to £50,000. Water capital items in a 5 year Mid Tier agreement are limited to £120,000 and subject to a value for money calculation.

Once you receive your Agreement Document, changes can only be made in very limited circumstances and will need to be agreed in writing by us in advance - read Section 7.

To help you decide which grants to apply for, read the relevant guidance:

optimising your application’s score – Section 4.4.1
addressing environmental priorities in your local area – Section 4.4.2
understanding the option and capital item management requirements - Section 4.4.3
addressing any specific priorities relating to:
water and air quality - Section 4.4.5
priority habitats - Section 4.4.6
organic land - Section 4.4.7
if relevant, advice received from a:
CSFO – Section 4.8.1
Countryside Stewardship Funded Facilitator – Section 4.8.3
if relevant, Natural England’s advice on SSSI land – Section 4.9.1
addressing any issues or management opportunities identified in your:
FER - Section 4.10.1
HEFER – Section 4.10.2

You can find out about the environmental priorities in your area and the range of options available in the following sections.

4.4.1 The effect on your application’s score

Your choice of options and capital items affects your application’s score:

options and capital items that address your local environmental priorities increase the score
options and capital items that do not address local priorities may reduce the score because value for money is considered in the score
using the WPFWP, advice from a CSFO, including the educational access option, or being part of a coordinated Facilitation Fund group will increase your score.

Read more details on scoring in Annex 3.

4.4.2 Identify local priorities

You should choose options and capital items that focus on the environmental priorities in your local area.

You can use the Countryside Stewardship Statements of Priorities and Priority Maps to identify the priority features and issues targeted in your area. This will help you choose which options and capital items to include in your application.

You can also find details of features on your land and local priorities by using the MAGIC website.

4.4.3 Find details of options and capital items

For a list of options and capital items available in Mid Tier, including payment rates, read Annex 2 of this manual.

Countryside Stewardship grants

Countryside Stewardship grants on GOV.UK lists all the grants available and any eligibility requirements. You can filter the list of grants by type, land use, tier and funding, or search for key words.

Rural Payments service online Options Tool

You can use an online Options Tool by signing into the Rural Payments service. On the Business Overview screen click the Countryside Stewardship link. You can find the highest priority options for your holding by answering a few simple questions.

Choosing the highest priority options can increase your application’s score.

4.4.4 Wild Pollinator and Farm Wildlife Package (WPFWP)

Applying for the WPFWP will help you provide a good combination of resources for wildlife on your holding. To include the WPFWP you need to choose management options that meet the requirements of the package. These must be at least 3% of the arable, temporary grass or permanent grass area in your application. Read Annex 4 for more information.

If your application meets the requirements of the WPFWP and your holding is in a priority area for WPFWP, your application score will be increased.

4.4.5 Addressing water and air quality issues, including run-off and soil erosion risk

Some grants can be used to help improve the quality of water and air on your farm, and in your local area.

These grants are particularly important if your land is in a Countryside Stewardship High or Medium Priority Area for Water or Air Quality. If it is, you may be able to get advice from Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) or apply for grants that are only available with CSF approval. You must contact CSF at least 10 weeks before you intend to submit your initial application. There is no guarantee that your request will be considered.

Read Section 4.8.1 for further information on CSF advice and approval.

You can apply for these grants in a 5 year agreement.

Air quality items are limited to £120,000 and Boundary items are limited to £50,000. Water capital items in a 5 year Mid Tier agreement are limited to £120,000 and subject to a value for money calculation.

If there is run-off and soil erosion risk identified on your Farm Environment Record (FER), consider whether any grants would resolve the problem and include them in your application.

Read Annex 5 for information on choosing water and air quality grants.

4.4.6 Priority habitats and species

Mid Tier includes some management options to support priority habitats and species. These options have specific eligibility criteria and must be endorsed by us. For more information, including a list of these management options, read Section 4.8.2. Other grants for priority habitats and species are available in the Higher Tier.

4.4.7 Organic conversion and management

Mid Tier provides 16 options that are only available to organic farmers and land managers. These include options for conversion to organic status (OR1 – OR5) and to continue to manage existing organic land (OT1 – OT6 and OP1 - OP5). Other scheme options and items can be included in the agreement if they are compatible with organic status.

To apply for the Organic Management options you must be registered with an Organic Control Body (OCB) for the period of the agreement. If the organic registration is not in place for the full agreement period, all organic payments will be recovered.

If you choose to apply for the Organic Conversion options, you must maintain your organic registration from the start of your organic conversion period through to the end of the agreement.

Conversion payments will normally be paid for up to 2 years, except for permanent crops such as fruit trees where a 3 year conversion period applies. It is possible to phase conversion, but all the land must be converted before the end of the Countryside Stewardship agreement.

To be eligible for the Organic Conversion options you must either:

have completed a Conversion Plan, which must be approved and signed off by your OCB; or
have completed a Viability Plan, for land which does not have a signed-off Conversion Plan at the time you apply. If you use a Viability Plan you must get an approved and signed-off Conversion Plan from your OCB before claiming any conversion option payments.

You must keep all evidence of organic certification and schedules as we may ask to see them.

Organic Conversion payments are not available on land where your business has previously been entered for, or received, any Organic Conversion payments under a previous scheme, such as Organic Entry Level Stewardship (OELS).

4.5 Register with Rural Payments

You must register in the Rural Payments service before you can request a Countryside Stewardship application pack or apply online, if you have not already done so. When you register you will receive a Customer Registration Number (CRN) and a Single Business Identifier (SBI). Agents applying for you must also register on the Rural Payments service – read Section 4.6.

4.5.1 Registering land parcels

You need to register all the agricultural land parcels on your holding which are 0.0100 hectares or larger, so they appear on your digital maps. You also need to register all the non-agricultural land parcels you intend to include in your Countryside Stewardship application with management options or capital items. This includes any buildings and farmyards on which you want to apply for options or capital items.

The total field size of every land parcel needs to be accounted for, including how different areas of the parcel are being used for different things, using the appropriate land use codes. Your land codes (use and cover) must be up to date to allow you to add your options correctly if you wish to apply for Mid Tier online.

Read the Countryside Stewardship mapping guidance for applicants to find out what to check on maps and how to update them for CS.

For example:

options HS1 or HS8 for maintenance of weatherproof traditional farm buildings
any capital works in the farm yard, such as those for water and air quality improvements.

You can check all the land parcels registered to your holding on your digital maps in the Rural Payments service.

Go to: www.ruralpayments.service.gov.uk
From the ‘Business overview’ screen, click ‘Land’ then ‘View land’.
To view individual land parcel details select the land parcel you need. The ‘Parcel details’ screen shows you a digital map and details of the land parcel.

If you believe the map or any of the details are incorrect, you need to request a change to your digital map.

To request changes to your land information, you must complete an RLE1 and send it to us by email or post. You must send your completed form straight away. This will prevent significant delays in sending an agreement offer or the application being rejected.

Read more information about updating your land parcel records and how to check your digital maps on GOV.UK.

Find the Rural Payments service land use codes for BPS 2022 on GOV.UK.

4.6 Authorise an agent

You can authorise an agent to complete and submit your application for you. This also applies to payment claim forms for Agreement Holders.

For an agent to act for you, you must give them the appropriate permission levels in the Rural Payments service. This applies even if you have previously authorised the agent using the paper agent authorisation form.

Read ‘Give someone else permission to act on your behalf’ on GOV.UK for more information on the different levels of permission. You should also read the information in the Permission levels screen in the Rural Payments service. This lists what is permitted at each level.

You are responsible for ensuring that you assign permissions on Rural Payments correctly and that contact details are all correct.

4.7 Request an application pack or apply online

If you are applying for Mid Tier Online:

Sign into the Rural Payments service.

If you are requesting an application pack:

Sign into the Rural Payments service.
Check that your personal details include the email address you are currently using; we will send the application pack to your email address.
If necessary, select the SBI you want an application pack for.
From the Business Overview screen for the SBI, select ‘Countryside Stewardship’ and then ‘Applications’.
Select the appropriate button to request your Mid Tier application pack (this may generate overnight in periods of high demand).
You can download your application as soon as it has generated. We’ll also email a copy to the email address included in your personal details in the Rural Payments service.

If your parcel details change and you need to refresh the details in your pack or you wish to download your application pack directly, you can do this by opening the pack and selecting ‘generate’ or ‘download’.

If you do not have access to the internet, call us on 03000 200 301 to request a paper application pack.

If you have Scheduled Monuments or other historic features on your land, you will need a Historic Environment Farm Environmental Record (HEFER) that is less than 3 years old and covers all the land in your application. Read the HEFER guidance letter included in your application pack to find out how to register and request the HEFER through the HEFER portal. It will take 20 working days to arrive from the date it is requested - read Section 4.10.2. (This does not apply to the Wildlife Offers - read Section 5.)

4.8 Request advice, approval and endorsement

4.8.1 Advice and approval for water and air quality grants

If you are a farmer or land manager applying for the multi-year management options and water and air capital items listed in Annex 5, you must get the support and approval of Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF). For information about how to find contact details, read Annex 8.

These multi-year management options and water and air capital items are only available if they address particular pollutants that affect the catchment, for example, sediment or pesticides.

If you would like support, you must email the completed form to request support and approval from CSF at least 10 weeks before you intend to submit your application. If you don’t allow at least 10 weeks for CSF to review your request, your request will not be considered. Please note that CSF will only assess a Countryside Stewardship application if it addresses recommendations previously made by, or on behalf of, CSF.

To receive support and approval from CSF, the options and capital items applied for must address the priority water or air pollutants identified as affecting that particular catchment or area. You will need to demonstrate clearly how the pollutants are currently impacting on the catchment. In the case of air, you will need to clearly identify the source of the ammonia emissions. You must also demonstrate clearly how the work you will undertake will address the pollution.

CSF support and approval will be prioritised on those farms where the greatest improvements in water and/or air quality and flood risk mitigation are most likely to be achieved.

The CSF approval is a requirement for the inclusion of a number of high risk options and capital items. This approval does not guarantee the particular option or capital item will be included in any Agreement offer. Evidence of approval from CSF must be submitted with your application.

4.8.2 Approval for management options for priority habitats and species

Mid Tier provides some management options to support priority habitats and species. These are listed below. Other grants for priority habitats and species are available in the Higher Tier.

Phone us on 03000 200 301 to request approval (except for UP2 and SP9). The deadline to do this is 31 May 2022.

Code	Option title
BE4	Management of traditional orchards
BE7	Supplement for restorative pruning of fruit trees
GS6	Management of species-rich grassland
GS9	Management of wet grassland for breeding waders
GS10	Management of wet grassland for wintering waders and wildfowl
SP9	Threatened species supplement (only for corn bunting, brown hairstreak butterfly, stone curlew and turtle dove)
SW17	Raised water levels on cropped or arable on peat soils
SW18	Raised water levels on grassland on peat soils
UP2	Management of rough grazing for birds
WD4	Management of lowland wood pasture and parkland
WD10	Management of upland wood pasture and parkland
WT3	Management of ditches of high environmental value

You can only include these management options in your Mid Tier application:

if they meet the criteria in the table below; and
you have written approval.

First, check that your land meets the eligibility criteria of the management option using the table below. You can do this using the data layers on the MAGIC website.

Natural England (NE) manages the Priority Habitats Inventory (PHI). If you have parcels that you think should be on the PHI as certain priority habitat types which are not shown as such on MAGIC, contact NE by emailing habitatinventories@naturalengland.org.uk. NE can provide details of the evidence required to support requested changes to the PHI along with a licence for the applicant to sign to permit NE to use the evidence supplied. Requests will be reviewed, and changes made if the evidence validates the request. You must send requests and supporting evidence by 28 February so that the request can be reviewed and the data layer changed (if appropriate) in time for Mid Tier applications.

This table shows the Initial Eligibility Requirements of Mid Tier options that need endorsement.

Option	Data Layer on Magic Priority Habitat Inventory	Eligibility Requirement
BE4 and BE7	Priority Habitat Inventory: - Traditional orchards	Parcel to be mapped as priority habitat BE7 can only be included with BE4
GS6	Priority Habitat Inventory: - Lowland Calcareous Grassland - Lowland Dry Acid Grassland - Lowland Meadows; - Upland Hay Meadow - Purple Moor-grass & Rush Pasture	Parcel to be mapped as one of the 5 priority habitats
GS9, GS10 and WT3	Priority Habitat Inventory - Coastal floodplain and grazing marsh - Lowland Meadows - Purple Moor & Grass Rush Pasture and for GS9: Priority Species for CS Targeting: - curlew - lapwing - redshank - snipe	Parcel to be mapped as priority habitat and (for GS9) one of the 4 species must also be present WT3 can only be included with GS9 or GS10
SP9	Priority Species for CS Targeting: - Corn bunting - Brown hairstreak - Stone curlew - Turtle dove	Application area to have corn bunting or stone curlew or turtle dove or brown hair streak (as relevant) present Can only be used with BE3 (brown hairstreak), AB10 (corn bunting), AB5 (stone curlew) or AB12 or OP3 (turtle dove)
UP2	Upland breeding bird areas for CS	An eligibility checklist (UP2 checklist) must be filled in, kept and submitted on request.
WD4	Priority Habitat Inventory: - Wood pasture and parkland BAP - Priority habitat	Parcel to be mapped as priority habitat
WD10	Priority Habitat Inventory: - Wood pasture and parkland BAP - Priority habitat	Parcel to be mapped as priority habitat and inside less favoured areas (inside SDA)

When you have checked this, contact us to arrange approval to use the management option(s). For all management options, except UP2 and SP9 for turtle dove or stone curlew, you must get this approval before you submit your application. For UP2, and SP9 for turtle dove or stone curlew, you do not need to request pre-application approval as this will happen when your application is processed. Read the option details on ‘Countryside Stewardship grants’ (known as the ‘grant finder’) on GOV.UK for further information.

Eligible parcels may need a site visit for final approval. If you have a site visit, you will receive a form from us, which you should keep as evidence of approval to be provided on request. Without approval you cannot include these options in your application. This approval does not guarantee that the option will be in the Agreement offer and it does not guarantee an Agreement offer.

The eligibility criteria for peatland options SW17 and SW18 do not appear on MAGIC. If you wish to apply for these options, contact Natural England using the contact details in Annex 8.

4.8.3 Advice from a Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund Coordinated Group

Applications confirmed as being part of a coordinated Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund Group will receive additional points at scoring. Contact your facilitator early to make sure that your application fits with the overall objectives of the group. You must keep evidence of endorsement from the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund coordinator.

4.8.4 Approval for management of lowland peat soils

Mid Tier now includes management options for lowland peat soils, as listed below.

SW17: Raised water level on cropped or arable land on peat soils
SW18: Raised water level on grassland on peat soils

You can only include these management options in your Mid Tier application on land designated as lowland peat soils. If you believe your land meets these criteria, you must seek written approval from the Natural England Peatland team. Without approval you can’t include these options in your application. This approval does not guarantee that the option will be in the Agreement offer and it does not guarantee an Agreement offer.

To request approval contact Natural England using the details in Annex 8.

4.9 Get consents and permissions

You are responsible for arranging all relevant consents, permissions, exemptions and written advice needed for your application. You will not be paid for any work undertaken without all the necessary consents and permissions being in place before you begin any work.

In some cases, you will not be offered an agreement if these are not in place.

You can find guidance in this section and in the evidence requirements section of each grant description (in the Options & Capital Items Manual). You can also use ‘Countryside Stewardship grants’ (known as the ‘grant finder’) on GOV.UK.

To make sure you submit a valid application:

identify the consents and permissions you need as soon as you start your application. This will depend on any designations attached to your land and on the options and capital items that you choose to include in your application
contact the relevant organisations shown in the guidance for advice and consents, where required
provide us with the evidence needed to support your application.

You may be unaware of some of the consents and permissions you need until after you have received advice. You should contact the relevant organisations for advice and gain consent or permission.

4.9.1 Consents

Examples of the kinds of permissions and consents you may need are explained below.

Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)

If your Mid Tier application includes SSSI land, you will need to request any necessary SSSI consents from Natural England. Your agreement cannot start without SSSI consent. You can request SSSI consent when you receive your agreement offer. You must send a copy of the agreement offer, along with a Notice form, to Natural England. You can download the form ‘Notice of proposal to cause, carry out or permit an operation requiring Natural England’s consent on a site of special scientific interest (SSSI)’ from GOV.UK.

You can email the copy of the offer and the completed Notice form to Natural England at: ProtectedSites@naturalengland.org.uk. If you are unable to email them then you can post them to:

Natural England
County Hall
Spetchley Road
Worcester
WR5 2NP

Natural England can also advise on managing the SSSI land through Countryside Stewardship. Contact Natural England as early as possible to discuss this.

Holdings which include SSSI land are not eligible for the 4 Wildlife Offers – read Section 5. Holdings which include one or more Scheduled Monuments are eligible for the 4 Wildlife Offers.

Scheduled Monuments (SMs)

If you have an SM on your holding, the HEFER will give you management recommendations from Historic England. This will include advice on how to maintain or bring the SM into favourable condition and protect the feature of historic interest. You will not receive a HEFER for the Wildlife Offers but you still need to manage the SM on your holding.

Some work may need SM consent from the government (advised by Historic England). For example, soil sampling, fencing, gateways and water supplies.

If you have an SM you must:

contact Historic England for further information and to find out whether you need Scheduled Monument consent (SMC)
include an appropriate option in your application.

If the SM has been classed as ‘essential’ by Historic England, you must include options to achieve the specified outcome. You must not choose options that are damaging to HEFER features.

You can get advice on whether you can do the work so that it avoids a negative impact on the SM. Historic England can also advise whether proposed works are acceptable in relation to:

listed buildings
registered parks and gardens
registered battlefields.

SBIs including one or more Scheduled Monuments are eligible for the Wildlife Offers.

Protected Species

You may need a wildlife licence, which you should keep for evidence, if any activities in your application may affect protected species. You can read more information at Managing wildlife on your land on GOV.UK and Section 3.1.7.

Work affecting water

You may need consent from the Environment Agency (EA), Internal Drainage Board or Local Authority for management that will affect any watercourses.

This includes work:

to a watercourse
within 8m of a watercourse
within the flood or coastal plain (for example, excavation work for a pond). (You do not need consent to establish arable margins.)

You do not need to provide evidence of consent or evidence that such consent is not needed with your application. If required, you will need to have consent in place before you carry out any work. You will need to submit this evidence with your payment claim.

If you need any of the following consents, you will need to arrange this well in advance of the application deadline because it can take up to 2 months:

land drainage consent
discharge consent
an abstraction licence.

You will need consent from EA for any works associated with the following:

pesticide treatment
water extraction
storage of slurry, silage or fuel oil.

Roofing over cattle handling areas or loafing areas does not require EA consent.

You can find contact details for your local Environment Agency office on GOV.UK.

If your land has significant erosion problems, or is causing pollution, you need to resolve this before you can be considered for an agreement. This is particularly important in sensitive river catchments.

Tree planting

Tree planting for air quality must be planned to ensure there is no harmful effect on priority habitats and species, or historic environment or geodiversity features (read section 4.9.3 and 4.10) and will need approval of CSF. Any applications including tree planting must follow the Environmental Impact Assessments Regulations for Forestry and you must consult the UK Forestry Standard for good practice for creating woodlands. Any match-funding with other sources of tree planting/woodland creation grant funding should follow the rules for Exchequer funding.

Work on trees and hedges

You may need permission for work on trees that are under a Tree Preservation Order (TPO). If this applies to you, contact your Local Authority or National Park Authority. Read more information on Tree Preservation Orders and trees in conservation areas on GOV.UK.

You may need a Forestry Commission Felling Licence to remove trees or manage hedges. This applies whether they are in woodland or not.

You can fell up to 5m3 and sell up to 2m3 of timber without a felling licence each calendar quarter. If you plan to fell or sell more, you must get a felling licence before your agreement offer can be issued. Read more information about tree felling licences on GOV.UK.

You do not need to provide evidence of any TPO permission or a felling licence with your application. If required, you will need to have the consent before you carry out any work. You will need to submit this when you make a claim for this work.

Listed buildings

If you are proposing work to any listed building(s), you must discuss this with your Local Authority or National Park Authority. They will advise whether you need Listed Building consent.

Conservation Areas

If any part of your holding is in a conservation area, you must contact the Local Planning Authority or National Park Authority. This is particularly important if you intend to work on trees, buildings, boundaries or other structures.

Work affecting Public Rights of Way

If you intend to erect a new fence or other boundary that crosses a public right of way, you need to get authorisation from the local Highways Authority.

4.9.2 Permissions

It is your responsibility to find out whether planning permission for certain work is required. Your local Planning Authority or National Park Authority can give you informal advice on whether a proposal needs planning permission or GPDO consent.

Most routine agricultural operations do not need planning permission because:

they are not regarded as ‘development’ under planning legislation, or
they are ‘permitted development’ that is ‘reasonably necessary’ for agriculture.

Other operations may need GPDO consent. For example, creation of ponds, tracks or roofing capital items.

For general guidance on planning (not farm-specific) read Planning practice guidance and/or plain English guide to the planning system on GOV.UK.

You do not need to provide evidence of planning permission or GPDO consent, or evidence that such permission is not needed, with your application. If required, you will need to have permission or consent in place before you carry out any work. You will need to submit this evidence when you make a claim for this work.

4.9.3 Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Regulations

Agriculture

These regulations protect environmentally significant areas, which are mainly uncultivated land and semi-natural areas, from damage by activities which increase the land’s agricultural productivity.

For more information, read Environmental Impact Assessment (Agriculture) regulations: apply to make changes to rural land on GOV.UK.

A semi-natural area will need a screening decision before activity starts, whether the land is uncultivated or not.

If activities or works which increase the productivity of uncultivated or semi-natural land form part of a proposed Countryside Stewardship application, you must contact Natural England for further advice. Contact the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) helpline on 0800 028 2140.

Particular consideration should be taken where land has been in schemes for over 15 years that has created habitat. This may now be considered as semi-natural under the Environmental Impact Assessment (Agriculture) Regulations on GOV.UK and will need a screening decision before starting any work that may improve the land’s agricultural productivity.

Also, if land has been reverted to grassland for a period of time and holds historic environment features, it will need a screening decision where those features are regionally significant or more, and you wish to convert those grasslands to arable.

Forestry

For any tree planting greater than 0.5ha, you need to check if an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is required. These formal processes are written into the EIA regulations - read the overview guidance for general information on EIAs. If your forestry project is for afforestation, small scale in nature and/or located within a low risk area you may simply be able to notify the Forestry Commission of your proposal, using the EIA enquiry form, in order to get their decision. Check the afforestation thresholds table to see if you’re eligible for this process, and which notification procedure would apply.

4.10 Complete the Farm Environment Record

You must complete a Farm Environment Record (FER) map for all Mid Tier applications.

If you are applying for Mid Tier Online, you will be able to download the FER when completing your application. If you are applying for Mid Tier with an application pack, the FER will be included in your pack.

4.10.1 Farm Environment Record (FER)

The FER does not need to cover the whole holding but must include:

any parcels on which you apply for (rotational or non-rotational) options or capital items
any SSSI or Scheduled Monuments even if options or capital items are not proposed on them.

Features mapped in the FER must be kept and protected from damage or removal for the duration of your agreement.

If you are applying for Mid Tier online, you will be able to download the FER when completing your application.

If you are applying for Mid Tier with an application pack, read the guidance in your application pack about how to complete the FER.

4.10.2 Historic Environment Farm Environment Record (HEFER)

If you have any Scheduled Monuments (SMs) or other historic features on your land, you will need to request a Historic Environment Farm Environment Record (HEFER).

If you apply for Mid Tier online, you will be able to download a HEFER guidance letter which will guide you through the process of requesting and downloading the HEFER. If you request a Mid Tier application pack, the HEFER guidance letter will be included in the pack.

The HEFER will be available 20 working days from the date it is requested. If you do not receive the HEFER, you can search on the HEFER portal for it.

You should receive an email to tell you that the HEFER response is available. You must follow the link in the email to download the HEFER response. The HEFER portal includes information about the Selected Heritage Inventory for Natural England (SHINE). If you do not have an email address you can ask us to send your HEFER by post.

If you have any Scheduled Monuments (SMs) read Section 4.9.1.

The HEFER will give you free information about the historic environment on your land. You should use this information to help you choose appropriate options and capital items. You must add the information to your FER.

If you have a HEFER produced within 3 years of the date on which your agreement would start, you can use this for your application. The HEFER must cover all land parcels in your application. If the existing HEFER does not cover all of your land we will request an additional HEFER to cover the missing land parcels. If you are aware of any historic features not shown in your HEFER(s) please contact us.

4.11 Other evidence required at application stage

You must keep evidence to show that you, the business, land and grants are eligible, and have it available on request as we may ask to see it.

4.11.1 Identify the evidence and supporting documents you need

You must retain any other evidence (such as photographs) set out under the management options and capital items. Read more information at ‘Countryside Stewardship grants’ (known as the ‘grant finder’) on GOV.UK and have it available on request as we may ask to see it in support of your application.

You must check what supporting documents are required for each option and capital item. Your application form and the guidance received with it should also help you to identify any supporting information you need to submit.

4.11.2 Business viability test

We will check all applicants against an insolvency register. If we assess your application as not financially viable, we may not offer you an agreement.

For applications including capital expenditure of over £50,000 in total, you must submit a statement from a registered accountant (for example, a chartered accountant or certified accountant). This is to confirm that the business or SBI has the resources from trading profits, reserves or loans to undertake the work in the proposed agreement schedule.

Where confirmation from an accountant is needed, the accountant will need to provide a letter on headed paper which confirms at least the following:

they are a registered accountant
they act as the accountant for the applicant or have been contracted to act on behalf of the applicant
they can confirm that you as the applicant have sufficient finances to complete the capital works in your application and how these funds will be sourced (for example, savings, loan etc)
their understanding of the total value of the capital works in the application.

If your application includes more than £500,000 of capital items, we will also review 3 years of your relevant business accounts or other evidence. This is to confirm that you have the administrative, financial and operational capacity to meet the agreement requirements.

4.12 Submit an application

If you are applying for Mid Tier online, read the How to apply online for Mid Tier guidance to find out how to submit your application and return any supporting documents.

If you are applying for Mid Tier with an application pack, read the guidance included with your application pack. This will tell you how to submit your application form and any supporting documents.

You must request, complete and submit your application within the published deadlines. You must allow enough time to arrange any consents or permissions needed.

If you are applying for Mid Tier Online, you can withdraw your application at any point during the online process. This will allow you to open a new online application if you wish, as long as the application window remains open.

If you are applying for Mid Tier using an application pack, you can withdraw a submitted application in writing at any time before you are offered an agreement or your application is rejected. If there is time, you can resubmit another application to replace it.

Once an agreement offer has been made, you can’t withdraw your application, but you can reject the agreement offer if you wish to.

After the closing date, you can ask to remove options or items from your application, but you cannot add or amend them.

4.13 After applying: step by step guide

Step 1. If you haven’t applied through Mid Tier Online, we upload your application into the Rural Payments service

Step 2. Applications assessed and successful applicants offered an agreement

We will check each application for eligibility.
We will score each application as in Annex 3, except for applications that only include organic conversion and management options.
We will tell you if your application has been successful or not.
If your application is rejected, we will give you the reason.

Step 3. Receiving and accepting an agreement offer

If your application is successful we will make you an agreement offer.
A declaration will be enclosed. You must sign and return this by post by the date requested, to accept the offer. If you do not meet the deadline, the offer will be withdrawn.
If there is SSSI land in your agreement offer, you must email a copy of the offer, along with a Notice form, to ProtectedSites@naturalengland.org.uk to request SSSI consent. You can download the ‘Notice of proposal to cause, carry out or permit an operation requiring Natural England’s consent on a site of special scientific interest (SSSI)’ form from GOV.UK. Your offer will be withdrawn if you do not secure consent from Natural England.

If you cannot send the documents by email, post them to:

Natural England
County Hall
Spetchley Road
Worcester
WR5 2NP

Step 4. Agreement starts

We will let you know when we receive your declaration and confirm that your agreement will start on 1 January 2023.

4.14 After you apply

All Mid Tier applications we receive by 29 July will be checked, scored and ranked against the available budget. Applications are scored as described in Annex 3, except for applications that only include organic conversion and management options. Applications for Wildlife Offers will not be scored and ranked because they are not competitive.

You cannot add options and capital items to a submitted application. You can request that grants are removed before the application deadline, but the application will be scored again.

If you are successful, we will make you an agreement offer which cannot be amended. If you want to accept the agreement offer you must return the signed acceptance declaration by the date requested. If you do not accept your offer in time, it will be withdrawn. Accepted Mid Tier agreements, including Wildlife Offers, start on 1 January 2023.

For capital items, you should not undertake work or incur costs for capital items before you have accepted your agreement offer, even if these form part of your agreement.

If your application is unsuccessful, we will let you know why it was rejected. You will then have the right to appeal to us, as set out in Section 7.12.

4.15 Why applications may be rejected

An application may be rejected at any stage if it:

does not meet eligibility criteria
does not score highly enough to meet the minimum threshold (excludes the Wildlife Offers)
does not score highly enough to be prioritised against the available budget (excludes the Wildlife Offers)
is likely to cause harm to the environment
is incomplete; for example, you have not provided all the required supporting evidence.

Question 4

5 The  Wildlife Offers

Accepted Answer

If you are applying for the Wildlife Offers, you must read and meet the requirements detailed in this section, as these are mandatory.

5.1 About the Wildlife Offers

There are 4 Wildlife Offers to help you to support the wildlife on your farm. The Offers group selected management options together, so you can help birds, pollinators and other farmed wildlife thrive and breed successfully. Offers are a quicker and easier way to apply for a Mid Tier agreement.

5.1.1 Benefits for wildlife

Countryside Stewardship Wildlife Offers help you to provide:

sources of nectar and pollen for insect pollinators
winter food for seed-eating birds
improved habitats, especially for farmland birds and pollinators.

5.1.2 How does it work?

These offers:

are a quicker and easier way to apply for funding: you can apply online using the Rural Payments service or by using a paper form
include a focused range of options so you can pick those most relevant to your farm business and local priorities
are non-competitive: applications are not scored as the Wildlife Offers are designed to provide a sufficient level of environmental benefits. If you meet the minimum eligibility requirements for the offer, we will make you an agreement offer.

You can choose from the:

Arable Offer
Lowland Grazing Offer
Mixed Farming Offer
Upland Offer

If you accept the agreement, you’ll receive an annual payment every year for 5 years. The amount you receive depends on the options you choose and compliance with your agreement. Only some of the Mid Tier options are available in the Wildlife Offers. The Wildlife Offers do not include capital items but you can apply for a Countryside Stewardship Capital Grants agreement on the same land parcels.

If you want to access other multi-year management options, you should apply for the Mid Tier. If you want to apply for capital items you can apply for either of the following:

the Mid Tier
the Countryside Stewardship Capital Grants, in addition to a Wildlife Offer agreement on the same parcels.

For approval of items listed in Annex 5, Catchment Sensitive Farming will only assess one application per individually managed SBI in any rolling 12-month period.

5.2 The application process

5.2.1 How to apply

You can apply for Wildlife Offers online from the Rural Payments service. If you cannot apply online, you can contact us to request a paper application form by 28 May 2022 – read Annex 8.

An Historic Environment Farm Environment Record (HEFER) is not required as part of the application.

See the step by step guide on how to apply at the end of this section.

5.2.2 Eligibility

The Wildlife Offers can only be located on agricultural land with a declared land use of arable (including temporary grassland) or permanent grassland. All other land uses are excluded from the Wildlife Offers. The offers you choose must match your intended land use in 2023. For a Wildlife Offer agreement starting on 1 January 2023, this is the land use declared for your BPS 2022 application.

If you have an organic farm, you can apply for any of the 4 Wildlife Offers if you have eligible land parcels. However, we strongly recommend that you apply through the Mid Tier route. This will allow you access to the full range of organic management and conversion options.

5.2.3 Ineligible holdings

You are not eligible to apply for the Wildlife Offers if you have:

land designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on your holding
an Environmental Stewardship agreement that is due to expire on or after 1 January 2023 (this includes extended HLS agreements)
an Inheritance Tax Exemption agreement with HMRC.

5.2.4 What to do if you are not eligible for Countryside Stewardship Wildlife Offers

If you are not eligible to apply for Countryside Stewardship Wildlife Offers you may be able to apply for a Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier or Higher Tier agreement.

A Mid Tier, Higher Tier or Capital Grants agreement may be more appropriate if you wish to:

manage organic land
manage historic features or specialist habitats such as wetlands and orchards
address water and air quality issues in priority areas
apply for capital grants, such as for hedgerow restoration or for yard works to reduce water and air pollution.

5.2.5 Understanding the management requirements of each option

You must be able to meet the management requirements for each option you choose. Section 4.4.3 sets out the support that is available when choosing options.

5.3 Offers

The following tables show the specific options and eligibility criteria under each of the Offers.

5.3.1 The Arable Offer

You must record land use as arable or temporary grassland for the year that you apply. You can include permanent grassland but only hedgerow options can be located on those fields.

The 20 options are divided into 3 categories in the table below. You must choose at least one option from each category.
The minimum number of options in the 5 year agreement is 3.
You can choose as many options as you wish but must enter a minimum of 3% of your Agreement Land into the Offer.

Category 1. Nectar and pollen sources for insect pollinators and insect-rich foraging for birds (select at least one, minimum 1% or 1 hectare per 100 hectares of farmed land included in the agreement, no maximum)

Option	Option title	Payment rate
AB1	Nectar flower mix	£579 per hectare
AB8	Flower-rich margins and plots	£628 per hectare

Category 2. Winter food for seed-eating birds (applicants MUST select this option, minimum 2% or 2 hectares per 100 hectares farmed land included in the agreement, no maximum)

Option	Option title	Payment rate
AB9	Winter bird food	£640 per hectare

Category 3. Additional resources & habitats (select at least one, no minimum or maximum, apart from individual option requirements)

If you have a Scheduled Monument present on a parcel, please select the most appropriate management option to manage that feature.

To maximise the benefits to wildlife, please prioritise options marked *.

Option	Option title	Payment rate
AB3	Beetle Banks	£636 per hectare
AB4*	Skylark plots	£20 (£10 per plot, min. 2 plots per hectare)
AB5*	Nesting plots for lapwing and stone curlew	£566 per hectare
AB6*	Enhanced overwinter stubble	£493 per hectare
AB11*	Cultivated areas for arable plants	£544 per hectare
AB12*	Supplementary winter feeding for farmland birds	£657 per tonne for every 2 hectares of AB9
AB15	Two year sown legume fallow	£569 per hectare
AB16	Autumn sown bumblebird mix	£608 per hectare
BE3*	Management of hedgerows	£9 per 100 metres
HS1	Maintenance of weatherproof traditional farm buildings	£4.03 per square metre
HS2	Take historic and archaeological features out of cultivation	£459 per hectare
HS3	Reduced-depth, non-inversion cultivation on historic archaeological features	£88 per hectare
SW1*	4 metres to 6 metres buffer strip on cultivated land	£419 per hectare
SW3	In-field grass strips	£624 per hectare
SW4	12 metres to 24 metres watercourse or nitrogen sensitive terrestrial habitat buffer strips on cultivated land	£578 per hectare
WT2	Buffering in-field ponds and ditches on arable land	£563 per hectare

5.3.2 The Lowland Grazing Offer

You must record land use on your BPS claim as permanent or temporary grassland for the year that you apply. You can include arable fields but only hedgerow options can be located on those fields.

The 11 options are divided into 3 categories in the table below. You must choose at least one option from category 1 and 2, and may choose additional options from category 3 if you wish.
The minimum number of options in the 5 year agreement is 2.
You can choose as many options as you wish but must enter a minimum of 3% of your Agreement Land into the Offer.

Category 1. Nectar and pollen sources for insect pollinators and insect-rich foraging for birds (select at least one, minimum 2% or 2 hectares per 100 hectares of farmed land included in the agreement, no maximum)

Option	Option title	Payment rate
GS2	Permanent grassland with very low inputs (outside SDA)	£132
GS4	Legume and herb-rich swards	£358

Category 2. Nesting and shelter for insect pollinators and birds (select at least one, minimum 500 metres of BE3 / 1% or 1 hectare of GS1 per 100 hectares farmed land included in the agreement)

Option	Option title	Payment rate
BE3	Management of hedgerows	£9 per 100 metres
GS1	Take field corners out of production (outside SDA)	£333

Category 3. Optional additional resources & habitats (no minimum or maximum, apart from individual option requirements)

Option	Option title	Payment rate
GS3*	Ryegrass seed-set as winter/spring food for birds	£426
GS17*	Lenient grazing supplement	£23
HS1	Maintenance of weatherproof traditional farm buildings	£4.03 per square metre
HS5	Management of historic and archaeological features on grassland	£39
SW2	4 metres – 6 metres buffer strip on intensive grassland	£213
WD7	Management of successional areas and scrub	£83
WT1*	Buffering in-field ponds and ditches in improved grassland	£275

5.3.3 The Mixed Farming Offer

You must record land use as arable, temporary grassland or permanent grassland for the year that you apply.

The 26 options are divided into 3 categories in the table below. You must choose at least one option from each category.
The minimum number of options in the 5 year agreement is 3.
You can choose as many options as you wish but must enter a minimum of 3% of your Agreement Land into the Offer.

Category 1. Nectar and pollen sources for insect pollinators and insect-rich foraging for birds (select at least one, minimum 1% or 1 hectare per 100 hectare of farmed land included in the agreement for AB1 and AB8; 2% or 2 hectares per 100 hectares for GS4. No maximum)

Option	Option title	Payment rate
AB1	Nectar flower mix	£579
AB8	Flower-rich margins and plots	£628
GS4	Legume and herb-rich swards	£358

Category 2. Winter food for seed-eating birds (applicants MUST select this option, minimum 2% or 2 hectares per 100 hectares farmed land included in the agreement, no maximum)

Option	Option title	Payment rate
AB9	Winter bird food	£640

Category 3. Additional resources & habitats (select at least one, no minimum or maximum, apart from individual option requirements)

Option	Option title	Payment rate
AB3	Beetle banks	£636
AB5*	Nesting plots for lapwing and stone curlew	£566
AB6*	Enhanced overwinter stubble	£493
AB11*	Cultivated areas for arable plants	£544
AB12*	Supplementary winter feeding for farmland birds	£657 per tonne for every 2 hectares of AB9 – Winter bird food
AB15	Two year sown legume fallow	£569
AB16	Autumn sown bumblebird mix	£608
BE3*	Management of hedgerows	£9 per 100 metres
GS2*	Permanent grassland with very low inputs (outside SDAs)	£132
GS17*	Lenient grazing supplement	£23
HS1	Maintenance of weatherproof traditional farm buildings	£4.03 per square metre
HS2	Take historic and archaeological features out of cultivation	£459
HS3	Reduced-depth, non-inversion cultivation on historic and archaeological features	£88
HS5	Management of historic and archaeological features on grassland	£39
SW1*	4 metres to 6 metres buffer strip on cultivated land	£419
SW2	4 metres to 6 metres buffer strip on intensive grassland	£213
SW3	In-field grass strips	£624
SW4	12 metres to 24 metres watercourse or nitrogen sensitive terrestrial habitat buffer strips on cultivated land	£578
WD7	Management of successional areas and scrub	£83
WT1*	Buffering in-field ponds and ditches in improved grassland	£275
WT2*	Buffering in-field ponds and ditches on arable land	£563

5.3.4 The Upland Offer

You must record land use as permanent or temporary grassland for the year that you apply. All land in the application must be within the Severely Disadvantaged Area (SDA) - if you wish to include land outside the SDA, you will need to apply for a Mid Tier agreement or another Wildlife Offer.
There are 9 options and 4 supplements to choose from. As a minimum, you can choose one base option and 2 supplements, or 2 base options and one supplement, or 3 base options.
You can only use supplements with the relevant base option – see table below.
The minimum number of options/supplements in the 5 year agreement is 3.
You can choose as many options as you wish.
If you have a Scheduled Monument present on a parcel, please select the most appropriate management option to manage that feature.
To maximise the benefits to wildlife please prioritise options marked *

Base Options (select at least one base option and 2 supplements or 2 base options and one supplement or 3 base options)

Option	Option title	Payment rate
BE3*	Management of hedgerows	£9 per 100 metres
GS5*	Permanent grassland with very low inputs in SDAs	£71
HS1	Maintenance of weatherproof traditional farm buildings	£4.03 per square metre
HS5	Management of historic and archaeological features on grassland	£39
HS8	Maintenance of weatherproof traditional farm buildings in remote areas	£6.86 per square metre
UP1*	Enclosed rough grazing	£43
UP2*	Management of rough grazing for birds	£110
WD7	Management of successional areas and scrub	£83

Supplements – GS17 cannot be used on the same area as supplements GS15, GS16 or SP6

Option	Option title	Payment rate	Can be used with these base options
GS15	Haymaking supplement	£37	GS5
GS16	Rush control supplement	£77	GS5; UP2
GS17	Lenient grazing supplement	£23	GS5
SP6	Cattle grazing supplement	£39	GS5

5.4 Simple guide to applying for the Wildlife Offers

Step 1

Decide which Offer is most appropriate for your farm.

Step 2

Decide which parcels you wish to include.

Step 3

Start your application online or contact us to request a pre-populated application form.

Step 4

The online application will tell you the area of land you need to put into the relevant option categories. Choose your option locations and enter the correct areas. Make sure you meet the minimum requirements.

Step 5

Fill in your Farm Environment Record (FER) – read section 4.10.1 for more information.

Step 6

For additional information or evidence that you must keep and have available on request, search for ‘Countryside Stewardship grants’ on GOV.UK.

Read sections 6.4.4 to 6.4.6 of this manual for information on photographic evidence (if required).

Step 7

Check your application and submit it, with any supporting documents we ask for, by 29 July.

When you accept your Agreement, Sections 6 and 7 and Annex 1 (covering the Terms and Conditions) of the Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier and Wildlife Offers Manual will form part of your Agreement.

5.5 After you apply

If you are successful, we will make you an agreement offer, which cannot be amended. If you want to accept the agreement offer, you must return the signed acceptance declaration by the date requested. If you do not accept your offer in time, it will be withdrawn. If you accept your Wildlife Offer agreement, it will start on 1 January 2023.

If your application is unsuccessful, we will let you know why it was rejected. You will then have the right to ask us to reconsider – read Section 7.12.

Cookies on GOV.UK

Applies to England

1 Introduction

Countryside Stewardship scheme overview

More information

Agricultural Transition

Sustainable Farming Incentive Pilot Scheme

Sustainable Farming Incentive 2022

Local Nature Recovery

Landscape Recovery

Scheme changes for Countryside Stewardship agreements that start on 1 January 2023

New service: apply online for Mid Tier

Option changes

Payment rate changes for revenue options

Important information

Historic Environment Farm Environment Record (HEFER) process

Mirror agreements

Accessibility improvements

Scheme approach

Site visits

Recoveries

More detailed guidance and communications with you

The Countryside Stewardship agreement

Mandatory parts of the Mid Tier Manual

Be aware of fraud

2 How Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier works

2.1 Introducing the Mid Tier

2.2 The grants available in Mid Tier

2.2.1 Management options

2.2.2 Capital grants

2.2.3 Countryside Stewardship capital grants applications

2.2.4 Organic management and conversion options

2.2.5 Choosing a Wild Pollinator and Farm Wildlife Package (WPFWP)

2.2.6 The Wildlife Offers

2.2.7 Scoring

2.3 Eligibility

2.4 Choosing management options and capital items

2.5 Making an application and important dates

When to apply

Important dates for all Mid Tier applications:

2.6 Agreements and agreement duration

2.6.1 Agreement duration

2.6.2 Changes to agreements

2.7 Payments and Agreement claims

3 Who can apply and what land is eligible

3.1 Eligible land

3.1.1 What land you can enter into the scheme

3.1.2 Ineligible land

3.1.3 Applications from land managers operating multiple farm businesses

3.1.4 Application and agreement land

3.1.5 Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Scheduled Monuments

3.1.6 European sites

3.1.7 Protected species

3.1.8 Organic Land

3.1.9 Land parcels with solar panels

3.1.10 Integrated pest management

3.2 Management control: eligibility and scheme rules

3.2.1 Tenants

3.2.2 Landlords

3.2.3 Partnerships

3.2.4 Licensors

3.2.5 Licensees

3.2.6 Land owned by public bodies

3.2.7 Common land and shared grazing

3.2.8 Business Viability Test

3.3 Relationship with the Basic Payment Scheme

3.3.1 Applying for Countryside Stewardship where someone else is claiming Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) on the same land (‘dual use’)

3.3.2 Lump Sum Exit Scheme

3.4 Land receiving other funding

3.4.1 Environmental Stewardship

3.4.2 Countryside Stewardship scheme compatibilities

3.4.3 Environmental Land Management schemes

Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot

Sustainable Farming Incentive early rollout

Local Nature Recovery

Landscape Recovery

3.4.4 Conservation Enhancement Scheme, Wildlife Enhancement Scheme or Section 15 Management agreements

3.4.5 English Woodland Grant Scheme (EWGS) and England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO)

3.4.6 Heritage Lottery Funding (HLF)

3.4.7 Scheduled Monuments (SM)