Guidance

How to claim your Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF) 2023 payment

Updated 8 November 2023

This guidance was withdrawn on 28 June 2024

The Farming Equipment and Technology Fund 2023 has now closed.

For the latest fund information, see the Funding for farmers, growers and land managers guidance: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/funding-for-farmers,

Applies to England

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Your grant will be paid in a single payment in arrears. Submit your claim as soon as possible after you have paid for and installed all the items in your Grant Funding Agreement (GFA).

You’ll get an email to acknowledge receipt of your claim. It is your responsibility to make sure that we receive your claim before the deadline. If you do not receive an email to acknowledge receipt, you should re-submit your claim or contact us for help.

If you have any queries, email FETFClaims@rpa.gov.uk or call the RPA helpline on 03000 200 301 and select the option for the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund.

If you pay for any items in full before you receive your GFA, you will not be able to include these costs in your claim. If this means your project will drop below the minimum score or grant values, your whole claim could be rejected.

What you need to send with your claim

You should submit the following with your claim.

1. A completed claim and declaration form – find these at the end of your GFA.
2. Copies of the invoices.
3. Copies of your payment evidence - bank or building society or business credit card statement which shows the items have been paid in full.
4. Photographic evidence, showing the equipment in situ (where applicable), for each item.
5. A photograph of the manufacturer’s plate, or a scanned image from the installation or operating manual, showing a serial number of each item if a check of the specification detailed in Annex 3 and Annex 4 confirms you need to provide one. We will check that the serial number has not been an item funded through FETF previously.
6. Installation and operating manuals, if necessary, to show the item is eligible.

Evidence should be either photographed or scanned and emailed to FETFClaims@rpa.gov.uk by the claim date included in your GFA. Send the email from the email address you have registered in the Rural Payments service. If you are unable to send electronic copies of your invoices or statements, please contact us for a postal address to send them to.

You should send us your documents as file attachments. We cannot accept links to documents that are saved on file hosting services, such as Microsoft OneDrive, or saved to the Cloud (storing and accessing data and programs over the Internet).

Where you have made a straightforward mistake on your claim (and it is obvious from a simple administrative check), you can ask us to correct it. We may be able to do this without any impact on your claim.

We will send all correspondence about your FETF 2023 claim from FETFClaims@rpa.gov.uk. You should add this email address to your trusted senders list and remember to check your spam and junk mail folders.

Invoices

To be accepted as evidence to support your claim, invoice(s) should:

• individually describe each item in full, based on the specification
• breakdown the cost of each item
• detail the manufacturer’s make and model of the item purchased
• quote the relevant FETF 2023 item code from Annex 3 and Annex 4 of the guidance against the item purchased
• be addressed to the same individual or business as detailed in your GFA
• show the supplier’s name, address, VAT number and date
• be from a supplier who is not part of, or linked in any way to, your business

Here is an example of what an invoice should look like:

Example of an invoice

We will only pay grants for items we agreed to fund on your GFA. If the invoice includes other items, you must clearly indicate which items you are claiming for. We will accept an account statement from the supplier, rather than all the additional invoices.

Invoices must be paid in full, and the payment must have left your bank or building society account before you submit your claim. If you have made a payment to a supplier that covers more than one invoice, you need to provide copies of all the invoices included in the payment.

Payment evidence

You will need to send us copies of your business bank, building society or business credit card statement so we can check all invoices have been paid in full by the business named in the GFA. For cheque or BACS payments, the cheque number or transfer reference should be shown on the statement. Acceptable evidence includes screenshots from an online account showing payment details and bank or building society logos, or a certified report printed from a banking system.

You can remove personal information that isn’t needed, but statements must clearly show the:

• bank or building society’s name and logo
• account holder name in full
• account number
• transaction date
• transaction type (including payee ref/cheque number)
• transaction amount

Here is an example of what a bank or building society statement should look like:

Example of a bank statement

If other payments were included in the BACS transaction, we will need to see an additional BACS breakdown report for BACS payments, to make sure a full audit trail is visible.

You must not make cash payments for any grant funded items, as there is not a satisfactory audit trail. We will not be able to pay a grant on any item paid for with cash.

If you pay for any items with a credit card, the items must be purchased on your business credit card, not a personal or different business account. The credit card statement(s) must show that all invoices for grant related items have been paid in full by your business.

If any other credit card is used, you must provide evidence to show that ownership of the item has been transferred, by paying back the amount before a claim is made. For example, if you pay £4,000 for an item from your personal credit card, you should pay £4,000 to your personal credit card from your business bank or building society account. You will need to submit both the personal credit card and business bank or building society account statements to show this.

If you pay for an item through a Buying Group, please provide evidence to show you have paid the Buying Group and that payment has been made to the supplier. This can either be an email from the supplier or a supplier statement. You will need to provide evidence to show that you have paid the Group, and the Group has paid the supplier.

You will not be able to use lease or hire purchase to buy any of the items in your application, as your business will need to have fully paid for all items (with the funds having left your bank or building society account) and own the items outright.

It is your responsibility to provide information securely. If you wish to password protect email attached documents, you should contact us before sending so we can confirm the method being used is acceptable. We will store your information securely for seven years in line with our document retention policy.

Photographs

Your claim must be supported with photographs of each item attached to the email in a Word document or a JPEG format. This must:

• show the item specification and the actual item in situ (not a representation of the item from a supplier or in its packaging)
• be clear, in focus, in colour and clearly show the item, and with no other objects in front of the item
• include make, model and serial number, (if required) to show the eligibility of the items against the specification in Annex 3 and Annex 4
• not be smaller than 600 x 400 pixels and ideally the image file size no larger than 400 KB
• clearly show the layout of the system (for handling systems FETF 56 Mobile cattle handling systems, FETF57 Fixed cattle handling systems, FETF69 Mobile sheep handling systems, FETF70 Fixed sheep handling systems and FETF 76 Fixed handling system for pigs)

Avoid taking photos which identify individuals, including employees, unless you have their permission to share their personal information with us. Contact us for more information.

Here is an example of what photos should and should not look like:

Examples of good and bad photos

If you are unable to send electronic copies, please contact FETFClaims@rpa.gov.uk or call the RPA helpline on 03000 200 301 and select the option for the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund.

Installation and operating manuals

As part of the claim process, you may be asked to provide an electronic copy of the installation and operating manual for items you have bought, to help confirm that they meet the specification.

Claims eligibility

Claims will be considered eligible where:

• the items are listed in your GFA
• the items meet the minimum specification set out in Annex 3 and 4 of this manual
• the order is placed after the date of your GFA, unless it is a refundable deposit
• the items have been fully paid for by the business named in the GFA - this means payment for the items is shown on your business bank or building society account statement or on your business credit card statement
• the items have been fully paid, ‘part exchange’ is not eligible
• items have been delivered, installed and are in use by your business
• items are at the location stated in your application
• the items are new - ex-demo, second hand, and ‘try before you buy’ items are not eligible
• you have submitted a claim and supporting evidence in accordance with this guidance

If you are unable to get your item

If you are finding it difficult to get an item(s) and are unable to source it elsewhere, or you are unable to meet the claim deadline, you must tell us as soon as possible. Email FETFClaims@rpa.gov.uk, with an explanation and supporting evidence.

You will need to tell us the make and model of the item that is unavailable and the supplier(s) you have tried to source the item from.

We may agree amendments to your GFA in exceptional circumstances, for example:

• you have applied for two items but realise you can buy them as a single item, for example, you order a cattle crush and you find that the “add on” such as a head scoop already comes with it
• it is clear to us you have selected the wrong item or added the incorrect quantity at the time of application, for example, you wanted a heat and service detector and have selected a calving detector instead
• you experience supply issues and have received confirmation that the supplier is unable to supply the item before the deadline - you must make every effort to source the item(s) from alternative suppliers, or provide evidence from your supplier confirming your order date and the reason for delayed delivery
• found item is not compatible with existing items or technology, for example, the item requires an internet signal to work and there isn’t one in the intended location of the item

We will consider amendment requests on a case-by-case basis. You must be able to demonstrate you have taken all reasonable steps to source the items within a realistic time frame.

If you remove an item, your application must still be within the minimum (£1,000) and maximum (£25,000) grant values. The revised total amended score must still be more than the minimum threshold for the round. See How your application is assessed.

We cannot consider requests to add new additional items.

If your claim is incorrect

You must make sure that you only claim for the items in your GFA. If you need to change your GFA, you should contact us to find out if it is possible to do so.

It is your responsibility to make sure the item(s) you buy meet the specification detailed in Annex 3 and Annex 4 and the invoices you submit are clearly itemised and dated.

We may reject all or part of your claim for any of the following reasons:

• you have not yet installed the item
• the claim was submitted after the deadline
• you claim for items which are not in your GFA
• you claim grant funding for an item which does not meet the minimum specification
• you have ordered items before the grant application window opened, unless you have paid a refundable deposit
• you have bought items in full before your GFA was sent to you (excludes refundable deposits)
• the supporting evidence you provide with your claim does not meet the requirements
• you made cash payments for any of the items
• you used lease purchase or hire purchase
• you bought ex-demo, second hand or ‘try before you buy’ items
• you have bought items using ‘part exchange’
• you have bought your items from a supplier who you/your business are part of or linked to in any way
• you do not claim for all the items in your GFA without our prior agreement

Withdrawing a claim

You can withdraw your claim at any time, unless:

• you have been told about a future site visit or have already had a site visit
• a site visit reveals a breach of the rules

If you wish to withdraw your claim, please email FETFClaims@rpa.gov.uk as soon as possible with your reasons for withdrawal. You should include your FETF reference number.

Payment of your claim

Payments are paid directly into the bank or building society account attached to your business’s main Single Business Identifier (SBI) number registered in the Rural Payments service. We will send you a remittance advice when your claim has been paid.

It is your responsibility to make sure a valid and active bank or building society account for your business has been added to the main SBI before sending us your claim evidence. If there is no valid account, your claim payment will be delayed. If you need to add a bank or building society account to your main SBI, contact the RPA helpline on 03000 200 301 and select the option for Bank account enquiries.

We aim to pay your claim by 1 March 2024 provided all claim evidence has been received. If your claim is not complete, it may take longer. You may need to account for this if it will affect the cash flow of your business.

Site visits

Your business may be selected for a site visit before the grant payment is made, or up to five years after this date.

All the details in your application, your claim, the declarations you make when submitting your application and items purchased may be checked during the visit.

Payment reductions

Your grant payment could be affected if you breach the terms of your GFA, as set out in Annex 1 and Annex 2 of this guidance, or you no longer meet the eligibility criteria for this fund.

In serious cases, we may terminate your GFA and/or seek repayment of grant funding and/or prevent you from receiving other grants funded by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

After you receive your grant payment

You must do the following.

1. Keep grant funded items at the location stated in your GFA operational and in good repair. They must be used for the same purpose as set out in your application for five years from the date your claim is paid. We may recover some or all the grant if you breach your GFA during this period.
2. Record the items on the business asset register, including the serial number and keep your register for a minimum of five years from the date your claim is paid. You should also keep copies of any relevant documentation including invoices, receipts and bank or building society statements for seven years.
3. Allow officials authorised by Defra or RPA and anyone accompanying them to visit the equipment at any reasonable time.

You must tell us in advance of:

• replacing or upgrading any of the grant funded items
• any changes in the ownership of the business that applied for grant
• any changes in the ownership of the grant funded items
• the business or grant funded enterprise/activity ceasing to trade or changing the nature of its activities

If any grant funded assets are sold, become redundant, or will no longer be used for the purpose for which they were grant funded, the grant may be recovered pro-rata. This will be effective for five years from the date of your grant payment.

If the business changes ownership, the item can either transfer to the new owner or the grant can be repaid to us. You must contact us before any changes happen.

If you have any other queries, please contact FETFClaims@rpa.gov.uk or call the RPA helpline 03000 200 301 and select the option for the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund.