Guidance

Annex F – Guide to Managing a Successful Project

Updated 23 November 2020

1. How to use this Guide

This guide provides advice on how to manage your Farming Recovery Fund project. It builds on the information given in the Handbook, Application Form and Agreement and specifies what you have to do to claim your grant.

All information included in a grey box within this guide is mandatory and must be followed.

All information outside of a grey box is advice and should be followed to ensure you deliver your project in a compliant way. This will enable us to process any variation request or claim form as quickly as possible.

2. Your Agreement with RPA

This guide is intended to assist recipients of the Farming Recovery Fund to successfully deliver the aims of the project. For consistency, the following terminology has been adopted throughout the application process:

An Applicant is someone who is applying for a Farming Recovery Fund grant – up to the point it is approved by RPA.

A Grant Recipient is someone whose application has been approved and an Agreement has been accepted.

The Project Manager is the Farming Recovery Fund team within Rural Development.

The Grant Recipient is assumed to be the person who is in overall control of the project and who is taking the responsibility of complying with the Farming Recovery Fund Agreement.

This guide is not restricted solely to the named Grant Recipient. Although the Grant Recipient remains ultimately responsible to RPA, all authorised parties should read the Farming Recovery Fund Agreement.

Remember that if you are:

• the holder of an Agri-Environment Agreement, for example under the Environmental or Countryside Stewardship schemes, it is your responsibility to ensure that the work you do through the Farming Recovery Fund does not contravene the obligations within your Agri-Environment Agreement. Receiving funding from the Farming Recovery Fund does not remove any liability you have to comply with your Agri-Environment Agreement. We would advise you to [read the flooding advice] on GOV.UK.
• a Basic Payment (BPS) recipient, your payment could be affected if there is a change in your land parcel size as a result of the work you do through the Farming Recovery Fund. You should contact RPA to discuss this, in advance of undertaking any work;
• requesting items that are fundable under an Agri-Environment scheme such as Countryside Stewardship in the future, it is your responsibility to declare that you have received Farming Recovery Fund.

2.1 The Agreement

You will have received an Agreement which is made up of an Agreement Letter and Annexes A-F. You should refer to the Agreement throughout the life of the project, to ensure that you are complying with its requirements.

You should read all parts of the Agreement.

If you need further advice about any aspect of your Agreement or if at any time it seems that your project is not on track to meet the conditions or the claim dates, you should contact the Project Manager as soon as possible. It may be possible to agree a variation (a change) to the project (see section 7 below).

You cannot assume that it will be possible for RPA to pay your grant if you fail to comply with all the terms and conditions laid out in the Agreement. If you do not follow the requirements of the Agreement, RPA can refuse to pay your claim and/or can seek to recover money which you have already been paid.

2.2 Agreement Letter

Key Dates

The Agreement Letter details 3 key dates for your project.

The Start Date is the date on which the Agreement commences. This will be the date of the flooding event as detailed in the Farming Recovery Fund Handbook.

The Completion Date is the date by which you will have submitted your claim to the RPA. You can submit your claim earlier if you have finished your project ahead of schedule, but you should let RPA know in advance. You can request a change to your Completion Date in writing and RPA will confirm if this is possible.

The End Date is the date upon which the Agreement ceases and this is 1 year from the date of the final payment being made. During this period, no changes should be made to the items or works funded without the written agreement of RPA, otherwise you could be subject to recovery of the grant.

2.3 The Annexes

There are 6 annexes to the Agreement and these are explained below. Annexes A and B will be part of your emailed Agreement, whereas Annexes C to F will need to be accessed through the Farming Recovery Fund February 2020 page on GOV.UK.

Annex A – Eligible Expenditure and Claim Submission

Annex A confirms the maximum grant that can be claimed for the items listed as eligible and by what date you need to submit your claim.

Annex B – List of land parcels

These are the land parcels that have been impacted by the natural disaster and where you can undertake the recovery work listed in Annex A.

Annex C - Project Specific Conditions (GOV.UK)

Annex C contains the project specific conditions, such as how to handle permits and consents. It is your responsibility to ensure you read through this section and identify those that apply to you. Failure to comply, such as not obtaining a permit or consent where one is required, may result in your claim not being paid.

Annex D - Standard Cost Specfications (GOV.UK)

All recovery work with a set or standard cost (listed in Table 1 of Annex D of the February 2020 handbook) must be completed to the specifications included in the handbook and on GOV.UK.

Annex E - Terms and Conditions (GOV.UK)

Annex E details the full Terms and Conditions of the Agreement.

Annex F – Guide to Managing a Successful Project (this document) (GOV.UK)

2.4 How to accept your Agreement

You must read all parts of the agreement, which includes the email and all the annexes detailed above, before you accept.

If you applied through the Portal, you will have received an email asking you to accept all parts of the agreement or withdraw through the acceptance portal

If you applied manually, you will need to print out the acknowledgement page, complete it and sign, scan or photograph the page and email back to FRF@rpa.gov.uk as your acceptance of all parts of the agreement.

3. How to make a claim

It is essential that you keep accurate records of all expenditure on which you wish to claim grant.

Payments must be made through your business bank’s automated system or by cheque and referenced to the appropriate cheque number if applicable.

Expenditure is only eligible where it is included in Annex A of your Agreement or is part of an approved variation to Annex A.

Grant can only be claimed for items or works that have been fully completed, e.g. are in situ and fully operational and have been paid for in full.

It is the responsibility of the Grant Recipient to ensure a valid and active bank account for the business has been added to the SBI on Rural Payments prior to submitting a claim. Failure to do so will result in your claim payment being delayed.

To add your bank account details to Rural Payments you must contact the RPA helpline on 03000 200 301.

3.1 Submitting a Claim

Claims for grant must be made on the Farming Recovery Fund Claim and Declaration Form (referred to as the claim form). You must complete the claim form in full and in accordance with the instructions included in the form.

The claim form will be issued to you after you have accepted the Agreement.

The claim form is in an Excel format. If you have any questions when completing the form, please contact your Project Manager.

The claim form is divided into four sections.

• Instructions
• Claim and Declaration
• Items being Claimed
• Land Parcels & Activity

Your grant will be paid in a single instalment after you have completed and, where relevant, paid for the works.

Include the following documents with your claim:

• the completed claim and declaration form (all tabs)
• labelled photographs of the damage for any invoiced or standard cost items you are including
• labelled photographs showing the completed works
• copies of any invoices and bank statements for work done by contractors or purchase of seed
• confirmation you are not VAT registered if you are including VAT on any invoices you submit
• any permits or consents required for the recovery work you have completed
• written confirmation from the relevant authority for recovery works on a Public Right of Way (PROW)

Once you have completed and checked your claim form you must submit it from an email address registered in Rural Payments for your business, or the address you provided as your alternative correspondence address in your application, along with the supporting evidence, to FRF@rpa.gov.uk.

If you have a large number of attachments, you can send more than one email, but if you do this, make sure you include in the title the number of emails you are sending, such as 1 of 2.

Please keep all the information you email to us. You may be required to post originals at a later date.

3.2 Supporting information with your claim

If you have undertaken work on the basis of quotes from contractors (‘quoted costs’), you must provide invoices and business bank statements to support your claim.

If you have undertaken work using reference costs, where someone else has done the work for you, you must provide invoices and business bank statements to support your claim.

If you have purchased seed under reference costs, you must provide invoices and business bank statements to support your claim.

If you have undertaken work using standard costs, you must meet the specification for that item. Details of specifications can be found in Annex D of your Agreement and in the handbook.

You must submit photographs of the completed recovery work for all of the costs you are claiming. If you are claiming standard or quoted costs, you must also include photographs of the damaged item. We may request maps that show the location of the works if we cannot determine this from your photographs. It is essential you include with your claim any permits and/or consents that may have been required.

If you have undertaken work under standard costs or you have undertaken the re-cultivation work on arable or grassland yourself under reference costs, you are not required to provide invoices and business bank statements in support of your claim.

3.3 Photographs

It is your responsibility to provide sufficient photographic evidence at claim stage.

Standard and quoted recovery work

Photographic evidence showing the damaged item must be provided for any recovery work listed as a standard or quoted cost in tables 1 and 3 of Annex D of the handbook. If we cannot confirm that the item was damaged by the natural disaster, the item will be removed from your claim.

Photographs of completed work

Photographic evidence must be provided for all completed work that you are including in your claim. For recovery work under standard costs, photographs must show that the work is to the specification detailed in the handbook.

Photographic evidence

All photographs you provide must be:

• labelled with your SBI, business name and the number of the land parcel where the work has been completed;
• dated wherever possible. You can use photographs with an automatic date stamp or write the date the photograph was taken on the reverse. If we are concerned about the legitimacy of a photograph we may request evidence of this;
  
• in focus and clearly show the completed work;
  
• locatable, so include a significant feature to confirm the location, such as aroad, tree line or telegraph pole;
  
• able to show the scale of the damage, so stand back to get the length and take a close up to show more detail;
  
• taken from the same position when including ‘before’ (damage) and ‘after’ (completion) photographs.

3.4 Invoices

True copies of original invoices or original invoices must be provided. Invoices must describe and cost each item of work separately. Invoices must be addressed to the business as detailed in the Agreement and must contain the supplier’s name, address, VAT number and an invoice date. Pro-forma invoices are not accepted as they are not considered to be an accounting document.

Invoices must be clearly legible.

Where an invoice includes a number of items but only one or two are eligible, you must highlight the eligible items. We will only pay grant for the eligible items. Invoices must be paid in full.

Poor invoice copies will be rejected and your claim may be delayed as a result. If an invoice is emailed to you from the supplier in pdf format, please forward the original email and attached invoice.

Organise evidence of expenditure logically, clearly number invoices in sequence and record the invoice number on the claim form to allow cross-referencing.

3.5 Handling VAT

If you are VAT registered you can recover VAT from HMRC and must not include VAT in the costs you claim for. If you do then the VAT will be removed from your claim.

If you are not registered for VAT and have included VAT in your projects costs, as either a quoted cost or an invoiced reference cost, you will need to provide a letter from a professionally qualified independent accountant to confirm that you are not VAT registered before VAT will be paid in your claim.

If your VAT status changes before or on the Agreement End Date, you must notify RPA immediately. Recovery of funds may apply.

The Agreement Letter specifies how VAT will be handled in the project and is based on the information and evidence provided in your application when you first applied for grant aid. Grant Recipients are fully responsible for their own VAT affairs.

A professionally qualified accountant is defined as: a member of CIMA or the CCAB constituent bodies (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants); or Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales ICAEW, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants ACCA, Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy CIPFA, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland ICAS, and Chartered Accountants Ireland).

3.6 Business bank statements

Business bank statements (or true and legible copies of the original) showing the invoice payments being made in full, referencing the cheque numbers of the payments if applicable, are required.

Acceptable evidence includes screen shots from an online account with necessary defrayal details and showing the bank logos. Alternatively a report printed from a banking system can be certified as genuine by the bank and that certification provided alongside the claim. Key fields that should appear on the bank statement are:

• Bank’s name and logo
• Account holder name
• Sort code
• Transaction date
• Transaction type (Inc. payee ref/cheque no)
• Transaction amount
• Date bank evidence generated

Bank statements should not be redacted

3.7 BACS Payments

For BACS payments an additional breakdown of the payments must be provided so that we can see the full audit trail and copies of the other invoices within the BACS payment must be submitted. The BACS report status should be complete.

3.8 Cash payments

Cash payments must not be made for any work that is invoiced. This is because it is impossible to provide a satisfactory audit trail for cash payments. Any cash payments included on your grant claim will be rejected.

3.9 Permits and consents

It is your responsibility to obtain a permit or consent for the recovery work you intend to do, if one is required. Permits and consents are not retrospective.

If you need one, you must obtain it before you start work. You are breaking the law if you operate without a permit or consent when you should have one.

We will not be able to pay you if you have not obtained the necessary permit or consent.

3.10 Maps (if required)

At claim stage, we need to be certain of the land parcel in which you have completed the work and the location and lengths of any repairs you have made, such as to boundaries. We should be able to get this from your photographs and eligible land parcel list, but if this is not the case, we may ask you to provide us with a map of the land parcel, such as from the Rural Payments service, to show us where you have done the work.

3.11 Eligible land parcels

You must complete the ‘Land Parcel & Activity’ tab on the claim form with the eligible land parcel numbers where you are claiming recovery work, as listed in your Agreement, and the recovery work you have undertaken in each land parcel.

Make sure that your photographs are clearly labelled with the number of the land parcel the work has been done in.

We are only able to pay you for work done on land that is in agricultural use within one of the land parcels listed in your Agreement. You can find out more in the handbook under ‘Who can apply’.

3.12 Claim deadline

Your claim must be submitted by the date shown in your Agreement. If there is any reason that you cannot submit by this date, you must email FRF@rpa.gov.uk explaining what has occurred and we will get in touch to discuss your case.

4. Claim Payment

Grant funding is paid directly into the bank account attached to your business’s main SBI number registered in the Rural Payments service.

It is your responsibility to make sure a valid and active bank account for your business has been added to the main SBI before sending us your claim evidence. Failure to do so will result in your claim payment being delayed. If you need to add a bank account to your main SBI, contact the helpline on 03000 200301 and follow the options for the Rural Payments team

RPA aims to pay complete claims into your business bank account within 30 working days. Where information is incomplete, or not supplied, claims may take longer to process.

5. Inspections

RPA may inspect the repair and reinstatement you have carried out. This is done to make sure that information given in the application is correct and that you have followed the obligations in the Agreement.

The Agreement allows the RPA or any UK or EU public authority to access your land and/or premises in connection with the Agreement. If you refuse to allow the RPA access to your land to carry out these inspections following reasonable notice or fail to provide any assistance the inspectors reasonably require, the RPA may withhold or recover some or all of your grant payment.

6. Irregularities and Recoveries

The claim payment will be calculated on the basis of what is found to be eligible within the claim. In the event of an irregularity (error) in the claim, the RPA has the right to remove such expenditure as ineligible.

We may not be able to pay a claim, may seek to recover a claim paid or may terminate the Agreement in certain circumstances. Full detail of when payment may be withheld, suspended or the Agreement terminated are provided in your agreement. Below are examples of when this situation could arise:

• if you claim for funding that is not shown in your Agreement we will not be able to pay your claim;
• if you are unable to provide consents or permits where these are required, we will not be able to pay your claim;
• if at inspection it appears that you have not undertaken the work for which you claimed funding, RPA retains the right to recover any such funds from you and to terminate your Agreement;
• if you deliberately attempt to claim funding for which you are not entitled or attempt to defraud the fund, we may pass your case to the Defra Investigations Team. RPA fraud information can be found on GOV.UK.

The Agreement remains in place for 1 year from the date of the final claim payment. Projects may be audited to make sure everything has been done correctly and that your project has delivered its outputs. Any changes to the project, either in ownership or use, that are not agreed with the RPA in advance during this period, may result in recovery of part or all of the funding paid.

Be aware that provision of false or misleading information in your claim form will be a breach of the Agreement and could result in criminal prosecution.

7. Changes to your Project and/or Business

RPA expects projects to remain faithful to the core aims and objectives as originally approved and, as far as possible, the original expenditure profile as outlined in Annex A of your Agreement. You should stay in contact with your Project Manager and keep them fully informed of progress and any issues that you might be experiencing.

You must not make any alterations to your project without receiving prior approval in writing from RPA. If you alter your project in any way to that originally outlined in your Application and detailed in the Agreement Letter and its Annexes, without prior permission, RPA may not pay your claim, may withdraw the Agreement and reclaim grant previously paid.

In certain circumstances it might be possible for RPA to agree a variation to your project to enable you to make changes to expenditure, the claim date(s) or to how you are delivering the project, e.g. if you need to use a supplier that was not one included within your application. This request must be made in writing by email and be approved by RPA in advance of any changes to the project or commitment of expenditure, otherwise your claim could be rejected.

You are obliged to notify RPA in advance of any proposed change to your business that happens on or before the End Date, that is 1 year after the final grant payment. You should let us know about the following, for example:

• any change in ownership of land that could affect the project, including any change to a lease or tenancy;
• any change in ownership of the business that applied for the Grant;
• any new business interests you acquire which may affect your eligibility for the Grant;
• any material change to your financial circumstances which could affect your ability to carry out the project, for example if your business ceases trading;
• any change in ownership or purpose of a grant aided asset, including any proposed charge over the asset.

8. Breaches of the Agreement

If you breach the Agreement, RPA may at its discretion reduce, suspend or terminate payment of the Grant (in whole or in part) and/or require repayment of all or part of the Grant. More information on breaches of Agreement can be found in the Terms and Conditions.

9. Force Majeure

Force majeure is generally considered to mean unusual or unforeseeable circumstances outside the control of the Grant Recipient, the consequences of which, in spite of the exercise of all due care, could not have been avoided by reasonable action and will materially affect your project delivery.

To apply to be considered under the force majeure provisions, you must notify RPA in writing of the circumstances of your case, together with any documentary evidence to support your request. Notification must be received within 15 working days of the date on which you are in a position to do so and you should state clearly in your letter or email that you are applying under the force majeure provisions.

All correspondence should include your project reference number and must be emailed to FRF@rpa.gov.uk.

10. Retention of Records and Project Inspections

All records relating to a project must be retained by you for reference by Defra, RPA or any other UK or (if applicable) EU public authority for at least ten years from the date of the final payment of grant.

These records should include all the papers connected with payments (including original invoices, receipts and business bank statements) relating to the grant, claims and information related to project outputs. Records will need to be kept in an accessible place so that they can be referred to, or inspected by officials, as necessary throughout the ten year period.

Defra, RPA or any other UK or (if applicable) EU public authority, may undertake an inspection of your project. The inspector will need to:

• track expenditure through your records and business bank statements to show that grant has been spent on the items of eligible expenditure for which it was intended;
• inspect all grant funded items;

• interview the person who has managed the project.

  You will need to provide evidence to confirm that your project is delivering the agreed outputs and outcomes as described in the Agreement.

11. Publicity Requirements

There are currently no requirements to include a statement on any website or poster, plaque or billboard to acknowledge Farming Recovery Fund.

The RPA will add the details of your grant on the Government Grant Information System. By accepting the Agreement, you are agreeing to this.

There are a number of publicity obligations that are applicable and these are detailed in the Terms and Conditions.

12. Making a Complaint

If you are unhappy with the service provided by RPA, you can call us or email at ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk

Telephone 03000 200 301

12.1 When you contact us, please tell us:

• Your full name, address and telephone number;
• Details of what happened and when;
• How your business was affected;
• Who you dealt with at RPA;
• How you’d like us to settle your complaint;
• Your Project Reference Number.

You can only complain against our funding decision if you think that we have:

• Made a mistake with your application;
• Made a processing error;
• Got the law wrong.

You must set out the reason for your complaint under one (or more) of these 3 criteria. You need to complain within 60 working days of receiving our decision letter.

You may find it helpful to use our ‘Complaint form’ CA4 form which is available on GOV.UK, although you don’t have to use this. If you cannot access the document contact the Helpline on 03000 200 301.

12.2 What happens when we receive your complaint

We’ll call you shortly after we receive your complaint. If we can’t speak with you, we’ll write or email instead. If we can resolve your complaint immediately, we will, and we’ll let you know what we have done.

Where we need to investigate further, we’ll try to settle it quickly. If we can’t, we’ll explain why not and give a timescale for settling the complaint.

For complaints about the conduct of our people, we’ll arrange for a full investigation by an appropriate manager.

12.3 If you’re still unhappy with our decision

If you’re not satisfied with the decision our Complaints Team gives you, what happens next will depend on whether you’ve complained about our service, or challenged a decision we’ve made.

• If it’s about our service, you can ask your MP to raise your case with the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. You must do this within 12 months of your initial complaint. (They would only investigate a case after this deadline in special circumstances.)
• If it’s about a decision we’ve made, you can appeal.

12.4 How to appeal

If you’re not satisfied with the decision from the Complaints Team you can appeal.

For any appeal you need to fill in the Appeal form CA1 form which is available on GOV.UK. If you cannot access the form you should contact the Helpline on 03000 200 301.

If you disagree with the outcome of your complaint, you can request that your appeal is sent to a panel of senior officials.

Send an email explaining the reasons for your appeal to:

Email ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk