How to complete your Environmental Stewardship claim form
Updated 19 March 2025
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2025
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Before you complete your claim form
Read pages 1 and 2 of the claim form letter carefully.
For your claim form to be valid you must:
- complete the form by hand (not electronically) and do not use correction fluid
- tick all appropriate declarations in Section 5
- fill in Section 6 if an agent will be completing and submitting the claim form on your behalf
- sign and date Section 7
Section 3 is prepopulated with your Rotational Arable Options (RAO) data, if relevant. If this section is blank, you do not have any RAO in your agreement.
Where relevant you must also complete the following sections:
- Section 2 – if there are any changes to your contact details
- Section 3 – to provide the location and area of all Rotational Arable Options, or declare that you will provide this by 1 September 2025, if you do not currently know this information
- Section 4 – if there are any changes to your claim, for example, changes to the land parcels or changes to the area or management shown in Annexes 1 and 2, or if you have not undertaken the required management this year
Read the Environmental Stewardship: guidance and forms for agreement holders
Complete your claim form
Step 1 – Acknowledgement
We will automatically send you an acknowledgement card when we receive your claim form. This acknowledgement only provides proof that your form has been received, it does not confirm if the claim is complete, or if it will be paid.
Step 2 – Claim form cover letter and Sections 1 and 2
The cover letter explains that if you have recently submitted a request for a change to your agreement, which is still being processed, the pre-printed details in Annexes 1 and 2 of the claim form may not show the change. If you have notified us of a mapping change and Annexes 1 and 2 do not show the change, make a note in Section 4 to explain the change.
Please check all prepopulated details in Sections 1 and 2 are correct. If any details are incorrect in Section 1, please contact us using our contact details at the top of the cover letter. If any details are incorrect in Section 2, please provide revised details.
Step 3 – Section 3: Rotational Arable Options (RAO)
This relates to the current cropping year, which is the cropping year from autumn 2024 to harvest 2025, except for options involving over-wintered stubble. See Annex 1 of this guide for a list of options and timings.
You need to tell us if you change the location of any of your RAO after you have submitted the claim form.
There is no requirement to keep options in place after the agreement ends.
Over-wintered stubble options
Options that include over-wintered stubble come later in the year, after the arable crop has been harvested. The information that we need for these options relates to their location for autumn and winter of 2025 to 2026, not the current cropping year. If you do not know the field number and area of your over- wintered stubble options when you are completing your claim form, leave these columns blank and tick the box to say you will tell us later. Please tell us the details of your over-wintered stubble options by 1 September 2025.
You do not need to tell us where the option will be if over-wintering after harvest starts, and your agreement has ended.
Step 4 – Section 4: Changes to your claim
After you have submitted your claim form, you can amend it by writing to us for example, where you are not able to carry out the management required. For land transfers, you must complete a separate ‘Land Transfer and Amendment’ form (LTA1) to register any change in obligations if you have not already done so. Please contact us to request an LTA1 form.
Step 5 – Section 5: Declarations
Please read the declarations carefully to make sure you fully understand them.
Step 6 – Section 6: Agent authorisation
If an agent is completing and submitting the claim form on your behalf, they should fill in section 6 and complete the Agent authorisation form. To submit the claim form, the agent must tick the ‘Agreement Management Agent’ box on the authorisation form. The ‘Application Submission Agent’ option does not give an agent authority to submit a claim form.
We will also accept ‘Full business permissions’ on your SBI as the correct permission level for an individual to submit an ES claim form. If you prefer, you can authorise your agent using permissions in the Rural Payments service on GOV.UK.
Read ‘Rural Payments service: give or update permissions’ on GOV.UK for more information on the different levels of permission.
Step 7 – Section 7: Signature and date
Sign Section 7 to complete your claim form. Please remember to enter your capacity, for example, agreement holder, partner, or agent, and sign and date the form.
Step 8 – Submit your claim form
You can:
Post your completed claim form and any supporting documents, the Agent authorisation form or continuation sheets, to the Rural Payments Agency office address shown at the top of the claim form.
Or you can email a scanned copy of the claim form and any supporting documents to the email address shown at the top of the claim form. Please write ‘Environmental Stewardship claim form 2025’ in the subject line of your email. You must send the email from a valid business email address registered against your Single Business Identifier (SBI) in the Rural Payments service
What happens next
Once we receive your claim form, we will check it is complete and will send you an acknowledgement of receipt. If anything is missing, we will contact you. If your claim is submitted late, we will let you know if any reductions apply.
Annex 1: Rotational Arable Options
Table showing rotational arable options for Environmental Stewardship claims 2025.
| Option Code | Option name | Location to indicate on 2025 form |
|---|---|---|
| O/E/HF2 | Wild bird seed mixture | Location when re-established in spring 2025 |
| O/E/HF4 | Nectar flower mixture | If winter sown, existing location If spring sown, where it is or will be located in spring 2025 |
| O/E/HF6 | Overwintered stubble | Where the stubble will be for autumn/winter 2025/26 |
| O/E/HF8 | Skylark plots | Location where established. If spring sown, where it is or will be located in spring 2025 |
| E/HF9 | Cereal headlands for birds | If winter sown, existing location If spring sown, where it is or will be located in spring 2025 |
| E/HF10 | Un-harvested cereal headlands for birds and rare arable plants | If winter sown, existing location If spring sown, where it is or will be located in spring 2025 |
| O/E/HF13 | Uncropped, cultivated areas for ground-nesting birds on arable land | Where it is or will be located in spring 2025 |
| E/HF15 | Reduced herbicide cereal crops followed by overwintered stubble | If winter sown, existing location If spring sown, where it is or will be located in spring 2025 |
| EF22 | Extended overwintered stubble | Where located in spring 2025 |
| O/E/HG1 | Under sown spring cereals | Where it is or will be located in spring 2025 |
| O/EG2 | Wild bird seed mixture in grassland areas | Location when re-established in spring 2025 |
| O/E/HG4 | Cereals for whole crop silage followed by overwintered stubble | Where the stubble will be for autumn/winter 2025/2026 |
| O/E/HJ2 | Management of maize crops to reduce soil erosion | Where the maize crop is or will be located in spring 2025 |
| E/HJ10 | Enhanced management of maize crops to reduce soil erosion and run-off | Where the maize crop is or will be located in spring 2025 |
| O/E/HJ13 | Winter cover crops | Where the cover crop was established in 2024 |
| O/EK20 | Ryegrass seed-set as winter/spring food for birds | Where the grass is now that will be used for silage in spring/summer 2025 |
| O/EK21 | Legume- and herb-rich swards | If previously sown, existing location If spring sown, where it is or will be located in spring 2025 |
| HF12 | Enhanced wild bird seed mix plots (rotational) | If winter sown, existing location If spring sown, where it is or will be located in spring 2025 |
| HF14 | Un-harvested, fertiliser-free conservation headlands (rotational) | If winter sown, existing location If spring sown, where it is or will be located in spring 2025 |
| HF16 | Cultivated fallow plots or margins for arable flora as an enhanced set-aside option | Where it is or will be located in spring 2025 |
| HF17 | Fallow plots for ground-nesting birds as an enhanced set-aside option | Where it is or will be located in spring 2025 |
| HF18 | Reduced herbicide, cereal crop management preceding enhanced set-aside | Where it is located in spring 2025 |
| HF19 | Un-harvested, fertiliser-free conservation headlands preceding enhanced set-aside | Where it is located in spring 2025 |
| HF20 | Cultivated fallow plots or margins for arable plants (rotational) | Where it is located in spring 2025 |
| HG5 | Brassica fodder crops followed by over-wintered stubbles | Where the stubble will be for autumn/winter 2025/2026 |
| HG6 | Fodder crop management to retain or re-create an arable mosaic | Where the fodder crop will be established in 2025 |
| HG7 | Low input spring cereal to retain or re- create an arable mosaic | Where it is or will be located in spring 2025 |