Guidance

Applicant's guide: Facilitation Fund 2024

Updated 11 January 2024

Applies to England

The Facilitation Fund is part of Countryside Stewardship (CS).

The Facilitation Fund supports individuals who act as facilitators to bring together groups of farmers, foresters and other land managers to improve environmental outcomes in their local area.

The Facilitation Fund is open for a new round of applicants to apply to become facilitators in 2024.
This applicant’s guide is for CS Facilitation Fund agreements that will start on 1 June 2024.
Agreements will run for 3 years.

If you want to facilitate a new group, you can apply for the 2024 CS Facilitation Fund.

If you have an existing agreement that is coming to an end before the 2024 start date, you can also re-apply, but you will need to show that you are meeting new priorities for the 2024 round of applications. This could be through choosing a new CS priority for your area and working with members of your existing group to deliver on that priority. You can also add new members to an existing group under a new application.

1. Important dates for the fund

Table 1: Important dates for the CS Facilitation Fund

Date	Event
23 October 2023	Application window opens for CS Facilitation Fund
11:59pm 15 January 2024	Last date to submit applications
11:59pm 15 January 2024	Application period closes
From April 2024	Agreement offer and declaration will be sent out for CS Facilitation Fund agreements to start on 1 June 2024
1 June 2024	Start date for CS Facilitation Fund 2024 agreements applied for in 2023/24

2. About the Facilitation Fund

The CS Facilitation Fund is administered by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Natural England provides technical advice in support of the scheme. The Forestry Commission and Environment Agency provide technical advice as part of the application process.

This applicant’s guide explains what you need to do to apply for a CS Facilitation Fund agreement.

It also explains the additional requirements and processes you must follow.

Any references in this manual to ‘us’ or ‘we’, refer to RPA.

2.1 Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund agreement

A CS Facilitation Fund agreement comprises:

• the scheme Terms and Conditions
• the agreement documents (which sets out facilitator-specific details)
• supplementary documents referred to in the Agreement Document

2.2 Meeting environmental aims

The Facilitation Fund was established in 2015 and has set up 224 groups with 5982 members of farmers and land managers, developing their knowledge and skills to improve nature restoration in their local areas.

Monitoring and evaluation studies have found that by coordinating action and working together, groups have achieved greater environmental benefits than would be the case from individual actions alone.

Successful collaboration:

• provides land managers with a local support network, to encourage long term engagement with positive environmental results
• facilitates learning together with expertise and best practice amongst land managers and stakeholders, being achieved through the sharing of information and skills, and through the delivery of external training
• plans and delivers shared actions or projects together that achieve higher quality environmental results across multiple holdings

CS supports Defra’s objective of ‘a cleaner, healthier environment, benefitting people and the economy. It also supports Defra’s Environmental Improvement Plan ‘for our country to be the healthiest, most beautiful place in the world to live, work and bring up a family’.

CS Facilitation Fund groups will support Defra’s Environmental Improvement Plan by focussing on:

• net zero
• air quality
• increasing biodiversity and supporting priority species
• water management

2.3 Net Zero

The 2021 Net Zero Strategy set out the Government’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the economy to reach net zero by 2050. Agriculture represents around 11% of total UK greenhouse gas emissions.

Net Zero can be achieved by:

• integrating low carbon practices, such as reducing tillage, and crop choice and cultivation chosen for soil health.
• restoring and maintaining peatland, through raising water tables and wetter modes of farming.
• planting trees and creating woodland, increasing tree canopy, woodland cover and planting hedgerows.
• improving the condition of native and ancient woodland, through assessing the condition of existing woodlands and managing this appropriately.
• agroforestry, by creating and maintaining agroforestry systems that enable agricultural land to capture emissions and deliver environmental benefits while maintaining farms’ main agricultural output.

A facilitator can be vital to coordinating these approaches, as well as providing training on concepts that may be new to some land managers.

Members of facilitation groups could make use of the Woodland Creation Planning Grant and England Woodland Creation Offer to support woodland creation and tree planting

2.4 Air quality

As part of Defra’s Environmental Improvement Plan the government is committed to providing clean air by reducing the emissions of 5 damaging air pollutants by 2030.

Ammonia is one of the 5 pollutants and is the only one not to have shown a significant reduction in emissions in recent years. Over 80% of ammonia emissions come from agriculture.

A facilitator can be vital to coordinate farmers trialling different types of agricultural practices, particularly those involving livestock nutrition, handling and spreading of manures, and nitrogen fertiliser use. These can potentially have a big effect on reducing ammonia losses.

2.5 Increasing biodiversity and supporting priority species

Biodiversity matters because it supports the vital benefits we get from the natural environment. CS schemes offer land management options and capital works to restore, maintain and create habitats and support the recovery of priority species.

Improving biodiversity can be achieved by:

• restoring habitats
• protecting hedges
• providing food and nesting resources for wildlife
• creating areas for rare flowering plants
• nature friendly farming

To halt the decline in species abundance by 2030, it is crucial that landowners work together at the local level across holdings to better achieve benefits for the wide range of species that support ecosystem functions. A facilitator can help coordinate this local effort.

2.6 Water management

‘Clean and plentiful water’ and ‘Reduced risk of harm from environmental hazards’ are goals of Defra’s Environmental Improvement Plan.

We encourage groups to look at nature-based solutions to water management.

A facilitator can help land managers collaborate to reduce water pollution over a wider area by dealing with issues such as sediment run-off across holdings and improving water quality.

Flood risk can be reduced by improved water storage, supporting changes to farming practices (such as crop management), improving farm infrastructure, and creating woodlands in a local area.

Where appropriate, advice to manage beaver activity on sites where they are already present, can also be a valuable means of flood mitigation.

These actions as a group can help to reduce some of the effects of extreme weather events.

3. Who can apply and what land is eligible

The Countryside Stewardship (CS) Facilitation Fund supports facilitators (either individuals or organisations) who work with farmers, foresters, and other land managers to improve and protect the local natural environment through agri-environment schemes, supported by training.

3.1 Land eligible for the fund

Eligible land for the scheme includes:

• land under existing agri-environment and forestry or woodland agreements
• common land
• land that is not currently under agreement but is eligible for any agri-environment scheme.

3.2 Members with land owned by public bodies

If your application includes someone who is a tenant of a public body, you’ll need to confirm with their landowner if the land is eligible to be included. They can still become a non-funded group member and receive training, but you will not be able to claim funds for them. Evidence of this will be requested on the Group Member form which must be completed along with the application form.

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

• payment from Exchequer funds
• grant aid from any other public body

This means that Crown bodies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs) are not eligible for the scheme. This includes those that are Trading Funds and those that do not receive funds 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

Public bodies can work with a group where public land adjoins, or is connected to a group’s area, but the following restrictions will apply:

• their holdings must not be used for the group to fulfil the minimum number or area requirements for Facilitation Funds
• they will not be eligible for the £500 per member uplift

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

Table 2: Eligibility of public bodies

Body or organisation	Eligibility	Details
Government departments, executive agencies and NDPBs (for example, Ministry of Defence, Forestry Commission)	Ineligible	Not applicable
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	Not applicable
Tenants of eligible public bodies	Eligible	Ineligible where the work is already a requirement of the tenancy agreement.
Tenants of ineligible public bodies	Eligible	Ineligible where the work is already a requirement of the tenancy agreement.

3.3 Who can apply

If you’re an individual or organisation from the farming, forestry or other land management sector or service provider, with environmental land management experience and suitable facilitation skills, you can apply to become a CS facilitator.

You must have land management experience and suitable facilitation skills, with expertise in at least one of the following:

• agriculture
• forestry
• water management
• ecology

3.4 Eligibility criteria

Your application must meet these criteria in order to be considered for the scheme:

1. The area of land that will be managed can deliver the CS priorities from the statements of priorities.
2. The land must be at least 500 hectares (size of the holdings, not the area of management activity), unless you can show that your proposal fits a smaller clear environmental boundary. Examples of this would include clusters of woods, meadows, marshes and/or sub-catchments, or a beaver cluster which provides the opportunity to improve the connection and interaction between them.
3. The area of land is spread over a minimum of four separate land holdings all managed by different people. (A common is treated as one holding for the purpose of this scheme and can join with non-common land to create the land area of the group).
4. The holdings should be adjoining, or the majority should be adjoining. Holdings can be dispersed if applicants can show that cooperation across more dispersed holdings is necessary to deliver the CS priorities. This could apply to groups who are managing beaver activity on sites where beavers are already present.
5. You must have the backing of the farmers, foresters and/or other land managers of the holdings.

3.5 Facilitators’ experience

As a facilitator you must:

• give details of any experience or qualifications that you have of bringing people together to act cooperatively
• give details of your qualifications or experience in agriculture, forestry, water management or ecology. Supply any evidence you feel is relevant to your application and may help support it
• give details of your experience of the objectives covered by CS
• provide 2 independent references to support your application and can confirm your knowledge and the results you’ve achieved - this could be someone you’ve worked with before for example, who is aware of your experience and what you can offer to a group

3.5.1 Your group

1. You will need to give details of when your group was established and how many members are in your group. There is no limit to the number of members you can have but the uplift fund is capped at 80 members.
2. Each group member will be required to fill out a Group member form and send this to you. Keep the signed original form as evidence. A copy of each Group member form should be submitted along with your application. Check you have completed the form in full before submitting it.
3. You will need to give details of how you and the group intend to take ownership and work together to develop the cooperation required to achieve the groups objectives. You’ll need to tell us what the role of each member will be.
4. You will need to have a group agreement in place setting out how the group will operate and deal with disputes. You must retain the original group agreement and members should retain a copy for their records.
5. You cannot charge a membership fee to members for any activity in relation to the Facilitation Fund.
6. All supporting evidence must be kept for the duration of your agreement and for seven years after the end date of your agreement.

3.5.2 Details needed for your application

1. Provide details of the CS priorities you will be delivering within your National Character Area(s).
2. Provide details of the activities your group members will be doing as a result of working together. We want to know how your group will deliver more benefits together and what the long-term goals of the group are.
3. Provide details of the possible or expected results, wider benefits and added value that your group will aim to achieve by 2027 as a result of working together.
4. If you are applying to facilitate a group because there are beavers present on or near land associated with the group, you should explain this in your application. It may be that your proposed group has less than four members or less than 500ha of land under management control. If this is the case, we can consider your application as long as there is enough detail in the application explaining this.
5. Members of the group do not need to be in an agri-environment agreement to join the group.

3.5.3 Your planned service

1. The purpose of the fund is to transfer and share knowledge and expertise to group members on a one-to-many basis. You must provide a plan telling us about the training and advice you will give and how you intend to carry it out. Tell us why it is required and how it links in with the group’s delivery of CS priorities. We are not able to pay for one-to-one advice under the 2024 round.
2. If you’re using a subcontractor for training or similar activities, make sure that any goods and services you buy meet the purchase (procurement) requirements and will deliver the best value for money. You will be asked to show evidence of this at the claim stage.
3. Let us know if you plan to deliver the knowledge yourself or if you’ll be relying on a sub-contractor.
4. You should give details of meetings and conversations you have with other initiatives or schemes, such as Catchment Sensitive Farming and groups in your local area that are delivering CS priorities to make sure there is consistency with them.
5. You must tell us if the group is receiving any other funds, or if you are planning to secure funds that will support the delivery of your group’s plans.

4. Before you apply

Before starting your application, read through this applicant’s guide. You may need to refer to individual sections as you fill in your application.

4.1 Make sure your Rural Payments service details are up to date

You must be registered in the  Rural Payments service before you can apply for the CS Facilitation Fund. If you are not already registered, you’ll need to verify your identity first before signing into the Rural Payments Service. You can do this in one of two ways:

• calling the Rural Payments helpline on 03000 200 301 and we will help you - this will only give you access to the Rural Payments service, not other government services
• online with GOV.UK Verify – this gives you simple, trusted, and secure access to an increasing number of public services on GOV.UK. If you have difficulty verifying your identity with GOV. UK Verify or you are having problems with the Verify service, you should contact your identity provider

After you’ve verified your identity, you can sign in to the Rural Payments service and start to register. You will need to create a password. For security, do not share your password with anyone. Once you have registered, you’ll receive a Customer Registration Number (CRN) and a Single Business Identifier (SBI).

Before you start your application, check that the personal and business details you’ve registered are still correct. We’ll use them to contact you about your application so make sure they are up to date.

There are different permission levels in the Rural Payments service. To submit your application, you must have ‘Submit’ permission levels for Countryside Stewardship (Applications). If successful in your application, you will also need ‘Submit’ permission levels for Countryside Stewardship (Agreements).

If you work for an organisation, your organisation must be registered in the Rural Payments service. You’ll need to ask a registered person within the organisation to give you ‘Submit’ permission levels for CS (Applications) and CS (Agreements) to make applications and claims on their behalf.

You can find information about registering and updating your details on the Rural Payments service on GOV.UK. Or you can call us on 03000 200 301 if you have any questions.

4.2 Legal implications

This round of the CS Facilitation Fund will use the domestic power to give financial assistance in Section 1 of the Agriculture Act 2020, together with the new enforcement and monitoring powers in the Agriculture (Financial Assistance) Regulations 2021.

• Agriculture Act 2020 (legislation.gov.uk)
• The Agriculture (Financial Assistance) Regulations 2021 (legislation.gov.uk)

5. What the fund can pay for

Information about what you can claim for under the CS Facilitation Fund.

5.1 What’s covered by scheme funding

Funding will cover:

• the costs of facilitation and collaboration among the farming community involved
• the training of group members to better deliver CS priorities set out in the CS Statements of priorities and targeting priorities map
• the extension of the group and/or securing funds from other sources if the members of the group want that to happen

You can find the statements of priorities and more information on GOV.UK.

Funds will be awarded to successful applications through a competitive process. Subject to the budget available, only the highest scoring eligible applicants will be offered an agreement.

The funds you could receive as a facilitator will depend on the number of holdings making up your group. You must have a minimum of four holdings and, although you can have unlimited members, we can only fund up to a maximum of 80.

You can apply for:

• up to £10,000 per year for activities such as field trips, training sessions, and sampling or testing of soil and plants, plus one-off consumable items such as binoculars and field guides
• £500 per member to cover costs of administration and management of the group

Facilitators will have the freedom to work flexibly between the budget headings. However, at assessment if the overhead costs are high and activity low, we would judge that as being poor value for money when assessing the application.

Table 3: Examples of costs

Activity per annum	£10,000	£10,000	£10,000
Admin and Management costs for holdings per annum	4 holdings x £500 = £2,000	10 holdings x £500 = £5,000	80 holdings x £500 =£40,000
Funds over the lifetime of the agreement (3 years)	£30,000 +£6,000	£30,000 + £15,000	£30,000 + £120,000
Total funds	£36,000	£45,000	£150,000

5.2 Paying for the project

Grants are paid in arrears. This means that you can only make a claim for payment after the work has been carried out and you have paid for it.

Do not start work, incur costs (including paying deposits) or place an order before the project start date in your Grant Funding Agreement. This could potentially make your whole project ineligible and you may not receive payment. Read the Agreements holder’s guide for more information about making a claim.

6. How to apply

This section gives you the information you need to apply for Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund.

6.1 Before you apply

1. Register on the Rural Payments service if you have not already done so.
2. Make sure you have the correct permission levels on the Rural Payments service to fill in the application. You will need ‘Submit’ permission levels for CS (Applications) and CS (Agreements).
3. If you work for an organisation, they will need to be registered on the Rural Payments service. Ask a registered person within the organisation to give you ‘Submit’ permission levels for CS (Applications) and CS (Agreements).
4. All group members listed on your application need to be registered on the Rural Payments service.
5. Check that all land parcels you want included in your agreement are registered on the Rural Payments service.

You can find more information on How to register and update your details on the Rural Payments service on GOV.UK or you can contact us on 03000 200 301 and we will help you.

6.2 Prepare to apply

1. Read this scheme manual in full including the Terms and Conditions.
2. Identify the CS priorities related to the area that group members could address. You can find these in the Statements of priorities: Countryside Stewardship on GOV.UK.
3. Talk to and work with local initiatives and partnerships that could be delivering CS priorities in your area. This could include Local Nature Partnerships, Nature Improvement Areas, Catchment Partnerships, national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty.
4. Talk to and work with Natural England, the Environment Agency or Forestry Commission local area teams, to make sure the CS priorities you want to deliver will complement other CS priority activities in the area.
5. Work with group members to agree the CS priorities your group will deliver.
6. Work with group members to look at the knowledge or skills that need to be developed to reach your planned outcomes.
7. Confirm the area the group members will cover – this is the size of the holdings, not the area(s) of management activity.
8. Work with group members to decide what action is required to develop successful teamwork within the group so that the CS priorities can be delivered across the holdings.
9. It may be useful to look at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and any possible issues or risks within the group. This will help when sharing knowledge and expertise, and when deciding what to do and how it might be delivered. All agreed decisions should be added to the delivery plan within your application.

6.3 Start your application

1. Download the application form
2. Make sure you open the application form in a PDF reader (for example Acrobat Reader). If you open the form in a browser window such as Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge, the option to automatically submit your form will not work.
3. Gather your evidence and supporting documents.
4. Refer to this scheme manual as you fill out the application and additional forms.
5. Be aware of character limits for some questions on the application form. If you go over the character limit, any extra characters will not be included, and you may lose some of your answers.

6.4 Provide supporting documents

6.4.1 References

You must provide two independent references who can confirm your experience and previous outcomes achieved. Make sure their contact information is up to date as we may need to get in touch.

6.4.2 Group Member form

1. Each member of the group must fill in a Group Member form to support the application

2. Each member should confirm they have:
   - seen the facilitators application and that they support it
   - seen and signed the group agreement (for disputes)
   

3. Each member should record if they will be nominating another person(s) to attend a CSFF meeting or facilitator-led training session on their behalf. If circumstances change throughout the year the member should fill in the Nominate a representative form and send this to us.

4. Group members can fill in the form electronically but will need to print it to sign it. They must send the completed form to their facilitator so that a copy can be included with their application. Facilitators must keep the original signed version. Group members and facilitators should both keep a copy of the form for their records. For more information about eligible land, read Section 3.2 Members with land owned by public bodies.

You can find the forms you need for the Facilitation Fund forms: Countryside Stewardship - GOV.UK ) published together on GOV.UK.

6.4.3 Group agreement

All facilitators must have a group agreement in place to decide how the group will operate, how it will handle any disputes within the group, and to confirm each members’ roles. This agreement must be signed by all members. The facilitator and members should all keep a copy and submit only on request.

We do not provide a template for this agreement.

6.4.4 Maps

Applications must be supported by a map (or maps) clearly showing:

• the area that the group members cover
• the size of each holding
• member’s name/business
• member’s SBI

If you do not have access to mapping software, you can use the Magic mapping application.

6.4.5 Procurement (acquiring) of goods and services

Before incurring any expenses for which you plan to claim grant payments for services from a third party, you should check that any goods and services are acquired in line with procurement requirements and will deliver the best value for money.

You will be asked at claim stage to show that any procurement or purchase of third-party services have met the requirements below.

Table 4 shows how many quotes, catalogue references and formal tenders are needed, depending on the value of each item.

Table 4: quotes needed for procuring good and services

Value of item or service	How to show value for money
Up to £4,999	One quote
£5,000 or more	3 quotes, references to catalogue listings or formal tenders for each item

You must provide references to a catalogue listing as printouts or photocopies. They should include:

• the date when printed or copied
• the item description and the price
• the name of the company or catalogue
• the page number or webpage

Any quotes or tenders must come from:

• different suppliers that trade as standalone businesses and are not linked through shared ownership
• a business that’s independent from the applicant or their business

The quotes or tenders must include:

• detailed and itemised breakdowns of costs
• the supplier’s address, telephone number and a contact name
• the VAT number (if the supplier is VAT registered and VAT is itemised on the quote)
• the supplier’s company registration number if they are a limited company

The quotes or tenders must be:

• comparable to each other in terms of quality, size, quantity, units, and specification
• from the last six months and still valid
• made out to the same business address on the application form - online quotes should also be addressed to the business

If you do not follow the procurement process, we will not be able to reimburse you for this element of your claim.

6.4.6 Costs including consumables

Not all expenses are eligible under the Facilitation Fund. This includes costs such as financial charges, fines, reclaimable VAT, and cash payments.

Facilitators must request prior approval from us if they wish to purchase consumables over £100.

The table 5 gives an outline of eligible and ineligible activity and items. This should not be considered an exhaustive list and facilitators should discuss the eligibility of any items they are unsure of with us first.

You must provide evidence for all costs to show how they have been incurred. All eligible costs will be managed by the facilitator as part of the groups budget.

Table 5: Eligible items and activities

Cost category	Eligible	Ineligible
Staff costs	any staff working on facilitation business and included in the Annual Delivery Plan or if staff are not working full time on facilitation business, then only those costs relating to hours worked on facilitation business can be claimed for	any staff not working on facilitation business. Upskilling of facilitator or staff
Office overheads	heating, electricity, phones, stationery, insurance costs relating specifically to facilitation activities	maintenance
Travel and subsistence	reimbursement for travel and subsistence costs for individuals working on facilitation business, car parking, toll charges necessarily incurred on facilitation business	costs incurred by staff not involved in working on facilitation business, parking or speeding fines (including any associated administrative charges from hire car companies), alcohol, entertainment
Marketing and promotion	website design (purely for facilitation purposes only), pdf leaflet design, printing of promotional material (in exceptional circumstances only), banner stands	facilitation branded mugs, pens, and other merchandise, county show and industry event entry fees
Events, room hire and associated costs	room and facility hire for facilitation events,  refreshments  for attendees and guests (non group members) who are named attendees	alcoholic drinks
Procured services	advice or training by a 3rd party supplier	feasibility studies
Consumables (equipment)	testing of samples, guides (plants, birds)	computers, printers, screens, keyboards

Printing costs of promotional material are not generally considered eligible; the use of hard copy printed leaflets should be limited.

Exceptions may be made for certain scenarios such as a high proportion of applicants living in remote rural areas with no access to broadband. In such exceptional situations you should be exploring ways to limit spending, such as the creation of a printable pdf which can be issued, if necessary, rather than the more expensive option of outsourced printed leaflets.

6.4.7 Travel and subsistence

All rail travel should be booked as standard class.

Taxi fares should only be claimed where there is no other suitable method of public transport.

Table 6: rates of mileage payable for driving

Type	Rate per mile
private cars	45p
private motorcycles	24p

6.4.8 Staff costs

Facilitators rates are set out in Table 7.

Table 7: Facilitator’s rates of pay

Facilitator activity	Rate per hour
Facilitation and administrative aspects of the job (basic rate)	£27
Facilitators using environmental expertise (supplementary rate)	£47.47
Facilitators running an event and providing expertise on the day	Basic rate + supplementary rate = £74.47
Administrative staff	£13.85

1. Facilitate without environmental expertise (basic rate)

A facilitator without environmental expertise helps and manages a group of people to work together in a more collaborative manner. They remain ‘neutral’ and do not take a particular position in the discussion.

Activities include:

• preparing the agenda
• guiding and controlling the event
• recording and actions

2. Facilitate with environmental expertise (supplementary rate)

You can qualify for the supplementary rate when you facilitate an event or when you need to use your expertise to:
- research external speakers or trainers
- use technical knowledge or provide training to groups

3. When you can claim the basic rate and the supplementary rate together

You can claim £74.47 per hour if you are running an event with bought-in technical advice but you are also expecting to contribute, because you have technical knowledge of the subject. You should be clear in what capacity you are joining an event and be able to evidence how you spend your time.

You must provide a copy of the invoice if you have bought-in training services. This must show the breakdown of costs and the bank statement showing the invoice has been paid.

4. Administrative staff

You can claim £13.85 per hour for administrative activities carried out on behalf of the facilitator to run the group.

Common tasks include:

• storing information by filling in forms, writing notes and filing records
• typing reports, memos, notes, minutes, and other documents
• receiving and distributing incoming and outgoing correspondence
• checking figures, preparing invoices, and recording details of financial transactions made

6.4.9 VAT

If you are unable to reclaim VAT from HMRC you can include the VAT in your costs. If you are offered an agreement, you’ll be required to provide a letter from an independent chartered accountant or HMRC confirming that you’re able to include VAT within your claim. If we already hold this information you do not need to send it to us again.

6.4.10 VAT for staff costs

If you or your staff are VAT registered, you will be able to charge us VAT at 20% for the facilitation or administration costs you are claiming for your group. You must provide an invoice showing the work you have completed and the separate VAT you are charging and include these amounts in the appropriate lines on your application and claim form. Include timesheets to support the time you have spent on each activity.

If your organisation is not VAT registered or you are a self-employed individual who is not (or not obliged to be) VAT registered, then you can’t claim for VAT.

If you are not registered for VAT and incur VAT costs in the acquisition and purchase (procurement) of activities or items associated with the facilitation of your group, you’re eligible to have these costs reimbursed as part of your quarterly claims. The costs should be split out between “Activity” and “VAT” on your application (an invoice for the activity or item concerned should be split in this way and will make it easier to assign the costs on your claim).

VAT for activities and training consumables activities and items to include:

• acquisition (procurement of) external training and trainers
• venue hire, including provision of basic refreshments
• travel and subsistence
• training materials, to include guidebooks, external training courses, samples or studies of land under the fund (training consumables)
• consumable items, including stationery, computer or telephone apps, computer peripherals, monitoring equipment (training consumables)

If you’re self-employed and the facilitator role is something you do part time alongside other work, your independent accountant letter should specify what, if any VAT you are entitled to claim for.

6.4.11 Events, room hire and associated costs

We will reimburse up to a maximum of £15 per head for food and drink only (excluding alcohol).  All claims must be supported by the appropriate receipts. 

An itemised receipt should list the full details relating to the transaction including the name and location of the outlet, date, cost, and description of the item purchased.  If you are ordering online, you should provide a copy of the order details including the full description, cost of the item purchased along with receipt of payment.

Refreshments will only be reimbursed for confirmed attendees at events. Attendees can be guests (non group members) but have to be confirmed attendees.

6.4.12 Other documents

We may request other supporting documents to help us with our assessments.

We’ll only accept supporting documents if they are scanned and attached to your email. For more information, read Complete and submit your application section.

6.5 Complete and submit your application

1. Fill in all of the sections on the application form.
2. Read the declaration and warnings carefully.
3. Check your application has been completed in full and you have all supporting documentation.
4. Enter your name in capital letters, your capacity (for example, sole trader, company director, agent and so on) and the date.

You must complete and submit your application within the published deadlines. You should allow enough time to arrange any consents or permissions needed and to make sure all supporting documentation is completed.

You can withdraw a submitted application in writing at any time before the closing date. If there is time, you can resubmit another application to replace it.

We must receive your completed application and all supporting documents by 11:59pm on 15 January 2024.

If the application form is not submitted by 11:59pm on 15 January 2024, it will be rejected. If your application is incomplete, or there is missing information, we will get in touch by email. You will be given 10 working days to supply the missing information.

If we do not receive missing information within 10 working days of the date of our email requesting this, your application will be rejected.

6.6 Email your application

1. You must send us your application and supporting documents by email.
2. Make sure that the email address you use to send your application is registered for the business on the Rural Payments service or the email will be rejected.
3. Make sure you have the correct permission levels of ‘Submit’ for CS (Applications) and CS (Agreements) on the Rural Payments service.
4. People employed or authorised by you (such as agents) need to have the correct CS permission level for the work you require them to carry out on the Rural Payments service.
5. You can attach more documents to your email if needed to support your application. There is a size limit of 32mb on the emails you can send to us through the Rural Payments service. To help with this issue, you can send zip files, or multiple emails if the size of one email is too big and isn’t accepted.
6. We do not accept links to virtual online drives such as iCloud/Google drive or One Drive with your supporting evidence stored there.
7. If you need to send more than one email, make sure you include reference to the number of emails you’ll be sending in the subject header, so we know how many emails/documents to expect. For example, ‘CSFF application supporting maps – email 1 of 4’.
8. Remember to put your SBI number on everything you send to us.
9. We recommend that you email your application and supporting documents to us in plenty of time before the application deadline in case there are any electronic issues, or you need more support.

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

7. After you’ve applied

Next steps, after your application is submitted.

7.1 Receipt of application

Once we receive your application, we’ll check to confirm that the form:

• and all supporting documents have been submitted by the deadline
• has been completed in full
• meets the eligibility requirements for the scheme

7.2  Eligibility and scoring

When we receive your application, we will do an initial eligibility check to confirm that:

• the form and all supporting documents have been submitted by the deadline. Supporting documents should include:

• maps
• 2 references
• group member forms
• group agreement
• the form has been completed in full
• the form meets the eligibility requirements for the scheme
• you are fully registered, with the correct permissions, in the Rural Payments service
• if your group members are registered in the Rural Payments service
• if the group member forms have been fully completed, signed and any consents submitted, including confirmation of a group agreement in place
• if group members or anyone linked to the SBI provided are part of another CS Facilitation Fund group

As the CS Facilitation Fund is competitive, applications that pass the initial eligibility stage, and are confirmed as valid will be scored. Your application will be assessed by advisors from Natural England, Environment Agency, and Forestry Commission with local knowledge of the area to aid an open and fair assessment.

The panel will look at:

• your experience and ability
• evidence about the group’s proposals to undertake the CS priorities from the statements of priorities
• evidence of collaboration with other local partnerships and initiatives delivering the priorities that benefit the environment
• evidence that the transfer of knowledge and expertise requirements are directly needed for successful delivery of the CS priorities in the statements of priorities
• evidence to show that for new groups, members are taking on activities which are new to them
• your suggestions for successful collaboration between the group and how you plan to help members deliver environmental improvements in a joined up, landscape scale.
• a value-for-money assessment (for example the cost must be balanced against what is being delivered, its effectiveness and efficiency)

Advisors will complete their assessments based on the information in your application only. They will not request any additional information. 

Your application will be scored using the scale below and each area being assessed must be scored at 5 or above to pass.

Score	Grade	Assessment
10	Excellent	Excellent demonstration
9		Very good demonstration
8	Good	Good demonstration
7		Good demonstration
6		Good demonstration
5	Acceptable	Meets the minimum standard
4	Weak	A near-miss with the potential to be strengthened and applicant encouraged to develop and apply in a future round
3		May have some good aspects but fails to meet standard
2	Inadequate
1		No good aspects - not suitable at all
0

Scoring is based on the following criteria:

Environmental efficiency:

• Farmers, foresters and/or other land managers supported by you can deliver the CS priorities on their land.
• Is justification sufficient where less than 500ha are covered?
• Evidence demonstrates engagement with other initiatives and/or partnerships.
• You can demonstrate the training needs of group members and/or use of consumables to deliver the CS priorities.

Value for money:

• Evidence of skill set and experience
• Evidence that farmers, foresters and/or other land managers will undertake activities that are new to them as a result of their co-operation
• Evidence of qualifications and experience needed to provide training or other knowledge transfer activities.

Cooperation

• How cooperation amongst the farmers, foresters and other land managers will be fostered.

Once all applications have been assessed locally they will be put to a national panel to make sure there is consistency in the scoring process. The national panel is made up of:

• The Rural Payments Agency
• Natural England
• The Environment Agency
• Forestry Commission

If your application has a final score equal to or greater than the agreed threshold score, we will offer you an agreement subject to available budget.

7.3 Why your application may be rejected

We may reject your application at any stage if it:

• is incomplete, for example, if you have not provided enough information and evidence needed for a complete application
• does not meet the eligibility criteria
• does not score highly enough to be prioritised against the available budget

Your application will also be rejected if you do not provide all necessary supporting evidence throughout the duration of the agreement within the required timescale, or we find an issue at a later date.

If your application is not successful, we will contact you by email and let you know. We will tell you why your application was rejected, and you will have the right to appeal. If you’re unhappy with our decision, you should refer to our Complaints procedure in the first instance.