Correspondence

Rural Payments Agency update- April 2022 (HTML Version)

Published 22 April 2022

Applies to England

Key dates

RPA has published a full guide to the key dates for all schemes on GOV.UK. This includes the dates for Basic Payment Scheme, all aspects of Countryside Stewardship and Environmental Stewardship.

RPA podcasts

During 2022 we will be bringing you a series of short podcasts to help farmers, landowners and rural communities keep up to date on developments at the RPA, offer support and guidance, and navigate agricultural transition. Please look out for updates via the RPA blog and our social media channels. If you would like us to cover a particular topic with our subject experts, please do get in touch. You can e-mail us at External.Affairs@rpa.gov.uk

Basic Payment Scheme

Applications for the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) 2022 are now open. This includes Young and New Farmer applications. The deadline for applications and for BPS entitlement transfers without penalty is midnight on 16 May 2022.

You can find more information about the scheme on the Basic Payment Scheme page on GOV.UK.

Land use codes for CS forestry options

If you have land parcels in CS forestry options which meet the BPS eligibility requirements, please be aware of the land use codes to use on your BPS application which are compatible with the CS forestry options. Please read OPS Note 42 for more information.

Progressive Reductions

Progressive reductions are being applied to your Direct Payments as we phase them out by the end of 2027. This started with your BPS 2021 payments and will continue each year until 2027.

In our Rural Payments Agency December Update 2020, we set out the percentage reductions that will be made to payments for the 2021 to 2024 scheme years. Reductions will be applied to the total payment the farmer would have been due in each year, including any young farmer payment.

The money saved by the reduction in Direct Payments will be invested back into new schemes to support farming and the countryside, such as the Sustainable Farming Incentive and the Farming Investment Fund.

We have created an online calculator so that you can see how progressive reductions could affect you for scheme years 2021 to 2024

Lump Sum Exit Scheme

Eligible farmers in England who wish to leave farming will be able to apply in 2022 for a lump sum payment. We will announce when the scheme is open for applications. You will then have until 30 September 2022 to apply with payments set to begin in November 2022 for applicants who have already met the rules by then.

The scheme will assist farmers, who wish to retire or leave the industry, to do so in a planned way. It will also allow these farmers to retain some involvement in farming, such as working for other farmers. Information about the scheme was sent to BPS customers in February 2022. For the latest information, go to the Lump Sum Exit Scheme page GOV.UK.

You may wish to apply for BPS in 2022 as well as applying for the Lump Sum Exit Scheme. This will protect you if you then find that you are not eligible for the lump sum payment or cannot complete the transfer of your land in time.

The lump sum payment will be based on the average BPS payments made to your farm business for the 2019 to 2021 scheme years. This reference amount will be capped at £42,500 and multiplied by 2.35 to calculate the lump sum payment. This means the maximum lump sum which a farmer can be paid is £99,875. If you take part in the scheme, you will need to surrender your English BPS entitlements before you receive the lump sum payment. Once you receive the lump sum, you won’t be able to claim further Direct Payments including future delinked payments.

You will need to transfer out most of your agricultural land in England (with some exceptions) by 31 May 2024.

Alongside the Lump Sum Exit Scheme, we will provide additional support for new entrants. You can find more about this in our Agricultural Transition Plan 2021 to 2024, published in November 2020.

Delinked Payments 2024

We plan to replace BPS in England with delinked payments in 2024. This means BPS will end after the 2023 scheme year. We plan to make delinked payments in each of the years 2024 to 2027.

When payments are delinked, you won’t need any land or entitlements to receive the payments. This will simplify the payments as we phase them out by the end of 2027. You cannot apply for delinked payments if you have received a payment under the Lump Sum Exit Scheme.

Delinked payments will be based on your BPS payments in a reference period, which is the BPS 2020 to 2022 scheme years. Your delinked payments for 2024 to 2027 will not be affected if your farm size changes, or if you change what the land is used for, after BPS 2022. You can receive delinked payments even if you choose to stop farming.

You must claim, and be eligible for, BPS payments in the 2023 scheme year to receive delinked payments for 2024 to 2027. You can also apply for any other scheme you are eligible for, including our environmental land management schemes. You can read more about how delinked payments will work on GOV.UK.

Cross Compliance: What’s new in 2022

There are no changes to the rules, but we’ve made some changes to the way we run cross compliance that you may benefit from. Such as:

• improvements in the way we communicate with farmers following some cross compliance visits by RPA field officers, formerly known as inspectors.
• we have also made the penalty levels more proportionate under SMR 7 cattle identification and registration and SME 8 sheep and goat identification where we find that you have engaged well with the rules.

You can read more details in the Cross Compliance guidance on GOV.UK.

Inspections and site visits

RPA continue to carry out site visits to make sure you meet the requirements of the schemes and to assist you in achieving the environmental benefits of your agreement.

We’ve been working with Defra, Natural England and Forestry Commission colleagues, stakeholder representatives, farmers, and other food producers to understand how we can meet best practice and have been sharing ideas to be consistent, across the Department, in the way we carry out inspections and site visits.

Following a Countryside Stewardship Domestic site visit, to improve our engagement with farmers, we’ll discuss the initial outcomes on site with you and send a letter shortly after confirming what was discussed. This will confirm whether the visit was found to be compliant or non-compliant and give any necessary guidance as quickly as possible.

For those considered non-compliant, the letter will indicate whether the option is rectifiable, the next steps, timescales and will point to sources of further advice and guidance which could help you ‘get back on track’ with delivering the option outcomes. For more severe breaches, a reduction or withhold of payment may still be necessary and would be communicated once the full visit findings are calculated.

If you don’t agree with the finding or want more information this can be raised using the RPA query process.

Countryside Stewardship

If you’re applying for Countryside Stewardship this year, these are the key dates to be aware of:

• Higher Tier applications are open until 29 April 2022 - remember to request your applications pack by 31 March 2022
• Mid Tier applications and wildlife offers are open until 29 July 2022. You can apply online without ordering a pack or you can apply on paper. If you’re applying by paper, order a pack before 27 May 2022. We encourage you to apply online as your application will be received quicker.
• Countryside Stewardship Capital Grants will remain open until the available budget is committed. There will be six weeks’ notice before the scheme closes to new applications in 2022.
• Countryside Stewardship Woodland Tree Health and Countryside Stewardship Woodland Management Plan are open all year.
• Countryside Stewardship Protection and Infrastructure is open all year.

Please do submit your application as early possible, so we can ensure decisions on your application are made as quickly as possible. You can read more information about Countryside Stewardship on GOV.UK.

Countryside Stewardship revenue claims submission reminder

If you’re submitting a Countryside Stewardship revenue claim, you must submit a claim every year, including the first year of your agreement. If your agreement started on 1 January 2022, you must submit a revenue claim for 2022. The deadlines to submit a claim are:

• 16 May 2022 to submit a CS and ES revenue claim without a penalty or reduction
• 31 May 2022 to make certain changes to a CS or ES revenue claim that was submitted by 16 May without receiving a penalty or reduction
• 10 June 2022 to submit a late CS or ES revenue claim with a penalty or reduction. If you submit your claim by email, please reply to the email that we sent with your revenue claim attached rather than sending a new email.

If you submit your claim by email, please reply to the email that we sent with your revenue claim attached rather than sending a new email.

Applying for Mid Tier agreements online

To make it quicker and safer for applicants, Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier agreements can be applied for online using the Rural Payments service.

• You will receive instant confirmation when your application has been submitted because it will go straight into our system with some important checks completed. You will be able to download a summary of your application
• Applications can be made online right up to the closing deadline
• Applying online will help reduce the number of queries raised regarding your application as there are built in validation checks
• We have streamlined the process to request a Historic Environment Farm Environmental Record (HEFER) which will result in the report being available to you more quickly in most cases. You can now access a self-service portal to generate a copy of the report to support your Mid Tier application

Applications opened on 8 February 2022 and close on 29 July 2022. If you’re not applying for Mid Tier online, order a pack for your paper application by 27 May 2022. You don’t need to request a pack if you’re applying online.

Higher Tier applications

Applications for Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier opened on 8 February 2022.

Applications should be submitted with any supporting documents by 29 April 2022.

Please submit your application as soon as you can after the opening date, so we, with the Forestry Commission and Natural England, can process your application as quickly as possible.

Countryside Stewardship and Environmental Stewardship Higher Level Stewardship agreements

If you’ve got a Countryside Stewardship agreement that is due to expire in December 2022, we may be able to offer you a new mirror agreement. This contains those revenue options which are eligible to be included. If you wish to change any of your CS options, you will need to apply for a new CS agreement.

We are looking at ways of varying the lengths of HLS agreements so that they can transition to new environmental schemes. We will provide more information about HLS agreements that expire from January 2023 onwards as soon as we can.

Rotational options reminder

When committing to your agreement term, the hectarage of rotational arable options that you signed up to is the hectarage to be delivered every year of the term of your agreement. Delivering the agreed upon hectarage is part of your agreement. You must do this to fulfil your agreement. For more information you can read the information for agreement holders on GOV.UK.

Revenue payment rate changes

New payment rates apply to all Countryside Stewardship agreements from 1 January 2022.

If you have an agreement, or an application for a revenue agreement starting on or before 1 January 2022, then where the new rate has:

• increased, the new (higher) rate will be paid.
• decreased, the existing (higher) rate shown on the signed agreement will be paid.
• not changed, the existing rate shown on the signed agreement will be paid.

You will not be sent an updated agreement. For new agreements starting from 1 January 2023 all the new revenue payment rates will apply.

If you have a CS agreement expiring in December 2022 and accept a mirror agreement, the full new payment rates will apply from when your mirror agreement starts on 1 January 2023. You can read about the new CS revenue payment rates that will apply to your agreement on GOV.UK.

CS fencing options - FG1 & FG 2

For any existing live agreements including those starting in 2022 you must adhere to the specification as outlined in your agreement. There will be a change in requirements for agreements with a start date from 2023. The specification requirements will be as follows:

• use softwood timber that is fully peeled, coated with wood preservative and pressure treated, or treated with an HSE approved industrial wood preservative (to comply with Use Class 4 as defined in BS8417:2014 ‘2014 ‘Preservation of Wood – Code of Practice’. Untreated durable timber can be used as set out in the Forestry Commission guide to forest fencing. As an alternative to wooden fence posts, you can use metal fence posts. For Higher Tier you should agree this with your Natural England Adviser or Forestry Commission Woodland Officer

Changes to woodland offers and woodland incentives

As a result of the Countryside Stewardship revenue payment rate review, the Woodland Creation Maintenance (WD1) option has increased from £200 to £300 per hectare (ha) per year. This is applicable to all existing and new Countryside Stewardship agreements dated from 1 January 2022 onwards.

The Forestry Commission are introducing four new area-based options. These are effective with agreements that commence 1 January 2023 onwards. The new area-based options will supplement the management of woodland by focusing on specific activities, threats and requirements relevant to a specific site.

Where applicable, woodland supplements will be ‘stackable’, allowing you to improve woodland through a range of options:

• Woodland Supplement 1 – Deer control and management. £90/ha to control deer through specified activities and control mechanisms defined by local Deer Officers
• Woodland Supplement 2 – Plantations of Ancient Woodland Sites (PAWS) restoration and maintenance. £70/ha to maintain PAWS focussing on manual weeding
• Woodland Supplement 4 – Access for People. £50/ha to create permissive access (by foot) into your woodland.

Details on management requirements, option descriptions, best practise and local support can be found in the Higher Tier guidance on GOV.UK.

The Forestry Commission will introduce two new spatial layers to accompany eligibility and will consider Woodland Officers’ discretion where applicable. Woodland supplements will not be scored, but WD2 maintains its threshold with regards to meeting option priority objectives.

In addition, we are implementing support for smaller woodlands by uplifting WD2 (woodland improvement) payment to a minimum of £1000 per year (effective with agreements commencing 1 January 2023 onwards). This means that if your agreement is less than 10ha in WD2 size, your annual payment will be that of equal to 10ha. The Forestry Commission hopes this will incentivise smaller woodland owners to bring their woodlands into active management. Supplements, if applicable, are compatible with the minimum WD2 payment uplift and will be valued on their actual size.

We are also expanding on the range of options which are compatible with WD2:

• Historic Environment capital items and area-based options will be compatible for applications made in 2022 onwards
• Veteran tree surgery BE6 will be compatible for applications made in 2022 onwards.

Countryside Stewardship Protection and Infrastructure

To improve the offer for new and existing woodland customers, woodland infrastructure item FY2 will be a standalone offer. This will be open all year round giving more flexibility when consulting with Forestry Commission and Local Authorities. We may add more items to this offer later this year.

Catchment Sensitive Farming’s (CSF) role in Countryside Stewardship

CSF provides targeted farm advice across England to improve water quality, air quality and to reduce flood risk. CSF is led by Natural England in partnership with Defra and the Environment Agency.

CSF advises farmers on Countryside Stewardship (CS) to address water quality, air quality and flood risk. CSF seek to support and approve applications with the highest environmental gain.

We recommend contacting CSF at least 10 weeks before you intend to submit your application.

CSF approves some capital items and land management options in the CS Capital Grant scheme and CS Mid Tier and CS Higher Tier. These are listed in Annex 2 of the CS Capital Grant manual, Annex 5 of the CS Mid Tier manual and Annex 7 of the CS Higher Tier manual.

The items and options requiring CSF approval are available in the high and medium priority areas for water quality as shown on Magic and are listed in the CS statement of priorities available on GOV.UK.

CSF will give a low, medium, or high score for items and options which it approves. Details on the scoring of applications can be found in Annex 3 of the CS Mid Tier manual.

For capital items and options to be approved by CSF they must address:

• a priority pollutant in the catchment or area
• an identified pollution risk on the farm that could negatively impact on a waterbody or sensitive area

Farmers/land managers must have also received CSF recommendations to:

• improve water quality – reduction in diffuse water pollution from agriculture and/or
• improve air quality – reduction in ammonia emissions and/or
• reduce flood risk – using flood management measures

If you need CSF support:

• think about the pollutant
• check it is a priority in your area
• use the right options and items in Countryside Stewardship.

How to submit requests for CSF approval

Requests for CSF approval of CS items and options should be submitted to the local CSF mailbox using the CSF CS Request for Support and Approval Form. This can be found, along with the list of CSF mailboxes on the Catchment Sensitive Farming page on GOV.UK.

For management options and capital items which relate to water quality and air quality, please contact CSF at least 10 weeks before you intend to submit your application, otherwise your request may not be considered.

After submitting your request, CSF will carry out a sift of the request before either returning to the applicant/agent or sending to a Catchment Sensitive Farming Officer (CSFO), or external adviser who is appointed to work on CSF’s behalf, for a detailed assessment.

Key dates for farmers, land managers and land agents seeking CSF approval:

• 20 May 2022 – Last date to request CSF support for CS Mid Tier
• 29 July 2022 - Last date for farmers to submit CS Mid Tier applications to the RPA with CSF approvals attached
• The CS Capital Grant scheme will remain open in 2022. We recommend contacting CSF at least 10 weeks before you intend to submit your CS Capital Grants application. The RPA will provide at least 6 weeks’ notice if the scheme is oversubscribed and will need to close to new applications.
• CSF can advise on the appropriate use of water, air and natural flood management options and items within the standard approval process of Higher Tier applications and related published deadlines.

CSF is only able to consider

• a maximum of one CS approval per Single Business Identifier (SBI) in any rolling 12-month period (unless in the case of multiple holdings under one SBI).
• approvals within CS application deadlines.

If CSF is unable to provide an approval before applications close due to lack of information, you can proceed with your application without the items and options which require CSF approval.

Environmental Stewardship

To minimise the potential for delays to payments for your Environmental Stewardship (ES) agreement, it’s important to make sure that you have submitted all the appropriate documents and information.

When we do need to request you send additional information about your agreement, please try to reply as soon as possible.

If the request relates to ES extension agreements and we have asked you to send us additional documents, please return documents as soon as possible with the appropriate consents.

It is also important that you inform RPA of any changes to land ownership as soon as possible and before the 2022 claims are released.

You can read more about the scheme on the Environmental Stewardship page on GOV.UK.

Environmental Stewardship revenue claims reminder

The deadline for submitting your ES Revenue claim form without incurring penalties is midnight Monday 16 May 2022. You can still submit up until midnight on Friday 10 June 2022 however daily penalties will be incurred.

You can submit your claim form by returning it to the email or address on page 1 of your claim form. If you have received a claim form by email but would like to request a paper form, please call us on 03000 200301. You will receive a receipt by email where possible or by post if we do not have an up-to-date email address for you.

To receive your 2022 payment, it is important to return your revenue claim form before the deadline even if your agreement ends part way through 2022 or if you have recently extended your ES agreement.

Environmental land management schemes

We are introducing 3 new schemes that reward farmers for environmental benefits: the Sustainable Farming Incentive, Local Nature Recovery and Landscape Recovery.

All schemes will be voluntary – it will be for farmers to decide what the right combination of actions are for their particular setting. Schemes are being co-designed to be accessible and supportive with fair compensation.

While the new schemes are rolling out, existing schemes will continue to be available for some time, with the last round of applications for new Countryside Stewardship agreements opening in 2023, for agreements starting in 2024. Then, from 2025, it will only be possible to enter into new agreements through our new environmental land management schemes.

Subscribe to the Future Farming blog to make sure you don’t miss any updates.

Sustainable Farming Incentive

The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) is the first of three new environmental land management schemes. Through the Sustainable Farming Incentive, we would like all farmers to produce environmental and climate change benefits as an integral part of their business, alongside food production.

The Sustainable Farming Incentive will start in 2022 with 3 standards:

• arable and horticultural soils (introductory and intermediate levels)
• improved grassland soils (introductory and intermediate levels)
• moorland and rough grazing (introductory level only).

We will also pay for an annual health and welfare review for livestock.

As the rollout proceeds, we plan to introduce more standards incrementally between 2023 and 2025, with the full range available from 2025 onwards.

Applying for SFI In 2022

Applications for the Sustainable Farming Incentive will open later this year. Farmers already registered with us who are eligible for BPS will be eligible to apply for SFI. We will remove the BPS eligibility requirement in future years, but we don’t expect to do this before 2024.

You can only apply on land that is wholly located in England, which you have management control of for the duration of the 3 year Sustainable Farming Incentive agreement. The area of land eligible for the Sustainable Farming Incentive will depend on which standard(s) you choose. You can choose how many land parcels you want to include.

To make it as easy as possible to apply, it’s important to check your digital maps are up to date and that the land covers shown are correct. If you need to update your maps, submit an RLE1 form as early as possible.

There is more information about this later in this mailer in ‘Mapping update requests – help us to help you’.

Guidance will be published before applications open, but you can find more information on GOV.UK by reading the guidance ‘Sustainable Farming Incentive 2022’, published by Defra in December 2021.

Local Nature Recovery

This is the more ambitious successor to Countryside Stewardship. It will pay for the right things in the right places and support local collaboration to make space for nature in the farmed landscape.

This scheme will particularly contribute to our targets for trees, peatland restoration, habitat creation, and restoration and natural flood management. You can find out more on the Local Nature Recovery guidance page on GOV.UK.

Local Nature Recovery will be open to farmers, foresters, and other land managers, who can deliver the land management activities the scheme pays for on their land. We’ll focus on testing things that are new or different in the most efficient and effective ways possible over the next year.

We’ll publish detailed scheme information and test elements of the scheme, building on the tests and trials done so far with a small number of farmers and land managers. Subscribe to the Future Farming blog to find out when and how you can get involved.

In 2023, we plan to make an early version of Local Nature Recovery available to a limited number of people. The scheme will then gradually be rolled out across the whole country by the end of 2024.

Landscape Recovery

This will pay landowners or managers who want to take a more radical and large-scale approach to producing environmental and climate outcomes through land use change and habitat and ecosystem restoration. Defra are planning to open applications for Landscape Recovery pilot projects in at least 2 rounds over the next 2 years.

On 1 February 2022, Defra published the guidance for the scheme and released our Invitation to Apply on the eSourcing Portal. This builds on the information published in January about how Landscape Recovery will work. You can read more about applying for Landscape Recovery on GOV.UK.

Applications for this round of funding are open from 1 February 2022 and will close on 24 May 2022.

Farming Investment Fund

In November 2021 the Farming Investment Fund which offers funding for equipment, technology, and infrastructure that improves farm productivity and benefits the environment was launched.

This fund provides grants to farmers, foresters, and growers, including contractors to these sectors, so they can invest in the things they need to improve productivity and enhance the natural environment.

The Farming Investment Fund is made up of 2 parts:

• The Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (lower value investments) – closed to applications in January 2022 and agreements have been sent out
• The Farming Transformation Fund (higher-value investments) which includes three themes:
• Water Management – closed to applications in January 2022.
• Improving Farm Productivity – applications closed in March 2022.
• Adding value – applications will open Spring 2022.

More information and updates will be published on the Future Farming Blog

Farming In Protected Landscapes

The Farming in Protected Landscapes programme is a part of Defra’s Agricultural Transition Plan. The scheme offers funding to farmers and land managers with land in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, National Park and the Broads. The programme will pay for projects that support the priorities of your protected landscape body’s management plan and result in at least one climate, nature, people, or place outcome.

Funding is awarded to successful applicants while applications remain open, rather than after applications close as we do with some of our other schemes. Applications will be considered for funding in the second year of the programme from April 2022. Multi-year awards are possible for longer projects, but all projects must end by March 2024.

You can read the full guidance on Farming in Protected Landscapes on GOV.UK.

Tree Health Pilot update

On 31 August 2021, the Forestry Commission (FC) opened expressions of interest for the Tree Health Pilot. This three year pilot is trialling novel grants to help better protect our trees.

As part of the Tree Health Pilot, this year the FC will be launching support for groups tackling Oak Processionary Moth (OPM) on their oak trees, enabling better coordination between landowners at a local level. Funding will be provided for facilitator led groups to create OPM management plans, coordinate surveying work and organise appropriate responses to infestations.

When the Tree Health Pilot opened last year, it was initially focused on ash with ash dieback, sweet chestnut with Phytophthora ramorum or blight, larch with Phytophthora ramorum, and spruce in the Ips typographus demarcated area. The FC are still prioritising sites located in parts of the South-East, West-Midlands, and North-West of England and are currently working with a range of land managers to support their work. The FC welcomes expressions of interest and are particularly interested in hearing from land managers managing sweet chestnut trees with Phytophthora ramorum or blight.

Further information on eligibility for any of the elements above and how to apply can be found on the Tree Health Pilot page on GOV.UK.

The England Woodland Creation Offer

Do you want to plant trees but are unsure how it works alongside BPS and ES payments?

The England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) is compatible with the Basic Payment Scheme, which means you can continue to claim on eligible land.

For more information read section 9 of the Woodland Operations note 42 on GOV.UK.

You may be able to transfer land in an existing ES grant agreement into EWCO without penalty, but the following conditions apply:

• a) the transfer of land into EWCO will result in a net improvement in environmental management on that land, compared to management under the existing ES agreement
• b) the ES agreement remains viable after transfer of the land and removal from the ES agreement

Find out more by reading section 3.3 of the EWCO grant manual on GOV.UK.

For enquiries about EWCO, please contact EWCO@forestrycommission.gov.uk For enquiries about conditions (a) and (b), or the process of removing land from an ES agreement, please contact ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk

The Farming Innovation Programme

The Farming Innovation Programme is a long-term funding programme to support farmers, growers, foresters, and other businesses to carry out Research and Development (R&D) to enable them to embrace innovative ways to maximise productivity and drive sustainability.

In October 2021, we launched the first three competitions of the Industry-led Research and Development Partnerships Fund. This is the first of three different funds to launch in the Farming Innovation Programme. The fourth competition within this Fund opened in March 2022 for Large Research and Development Partnerships.

Together with this, we have also opened the first competition in the Farming Futures R&D Fund. This is aimed at bringing together agri-food businesses and researchers to focus on solutions that will transform strategic and sector-wide challenges that impact productivity in the long-term (e.g., reducing greenhouse gas emissions and helping farmers adapt to changing climate).

These two Funds will be followed at a later stage by the third and final Projects to Accelerate Adoption Fund with a focus on immediate on-farm productivity challenges. This might be through smaller-scale, farmer-led R&D projects to trial and demonstrate the on-farm viability of new as well as existing technologies, processes and practices. Read more about the programme at farminginnovation.ukri.org

Future Farming and Countryside Programme: Keeping in touch with our customers

At the heart of our commitment to meaningful, two-way conversations with our customers are our co-design groups, run by Defra’s Future Farming and Countryside Programme (FFCP), that are happening through the year.

As many of Defra’s major new schemes begin rolling out, we’d like more of our dairy, pig, poultry, grazing livestock farmers and horticulturalists to get involved in helping us find improvements.

“Co-design actively involves our users and stakeholders from the beginning of our projects, right throughout to roll-out. During the co-design sessions we talk through problem areas with those who are living with our policies and systems every day and have experiences, stories, insights and information to share,” says Future Farming and Countryside Programme director Janet Hughes.

We’ve had a strong response so far from arable, beef and sheep farmers when we first advertised our co-design projects last year, and now have around 1,000 volunteers from a cross-section of roles and sectors of agriculture.

We’d like more representatives from the sectors listed above to join our co-design forums in 2022. If for example, you’re new to farming and want to learn about funding and business support, give your feedback on guidance and regulations or a new environmental scheme, the co-design groups are a new opportunity. No sessions are compulsory, and you can opt out at any time. “The (farming community) know more about what’s worked in the past and what hasn’t, and what we should learn from that,” adds Janet.

Read our Future Farming blog for more on our new farming schemes and co-design work. Or email ffcpcodesign@defra.gov.uk to register your interest in co-design to join our panel of volunteers and learn about all the upcoming events.

How to make mapping updates: Submitting your RLE1

If you are requesting a change to one or more of the land parcels shown in your digital maps or that a new land parcel is mapped to your holding, you will need to complete an RLE1 form, electronically or on paper and send this to us along with a suitable sketch map(s).

By submitting this in advance of any schemes deadlines you are working towards this will ensure you have the correct land data for the scheme.

Guidance on how to tell the RPA about land changes and entitlements can be found on GOV.UK.

Please ensure any mapping changes you submit are supported by clearly annotated sketch maps. Where we have aerial photography, satellite imagery or ordnance survey data on our mapping system that supports your mapping change, we’ll use this to make sure it’s completed as accurately as possible. However, where this information is unsuitable, we will rely on your sketch maps. It’s therefore important you add as much information you can to your sketch maps, but please follow these guidelines.

• Avoid adding contradictory information. Providing measurements to support your annotations can be very useful, but if they don’t match with the shapes drawn on the sketch map then it leads to confusion because we won’t know which piece of information is correct.
• This problem can be avoided by letting us know if any of your annotations, measurements or areas have been estimated. For example, if we know a line has been ‘best guessed’ on the map yet the areas were carefully measured, then we can try and make sure the areas are achieved. Similarly, if the areas were estimated but the mark-ups were accurately drawn on the map using clearly defined reference points, then we can make sure we follow that information.
• As we may not have access to live information that shows the change(s) you want to make, mark-up, as accurately as you can, all the changes you would like us to make to your digital maps.

Following this advice should help improve the quality of your mapping change requests and reduce the need for clarifying information which might delay processing your request.

If you are submitting your RLE1 form(s) by email, please make sure you follow the RLE1 guidance on GOV.UK.

Your electronically completed RLE1 form must be returned as a PDF document and, along with any supporting documents (including sketch maps), must be attached to the same email as separate files and emailed to ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk. Please put ‘RLE1 Land Change’ and your Single Business Identifier in the email subject heading because without that correct wording your request may be delayed.

You must also make sure that the email address you’re sending the RLE1 form from is registered in the Rural Payments service and has the correct permission level for the business the RLE1 form relates to.

Support for farmers

We understand that farming communities are currently facing a unique set of challenges, and that resilience and wellbeing support available to rural communities has never been more important. We work with a range of organisations who offer confidential and free services to support farmers.

Farming Advice Service

The Farming Advice Service is an advice line run by Defra to help farmers understand and meet the requirements of Cross Compliance, the Basic Payment Scheme and the European Directives.

The helpline can offer advice to farmers on:

• cross compliance
• water use and quality
• pesticide use, including Integrated Pest Management planning.

You can reach them using the following details:

• email: advice@farmingadviceservice.org.uk
• telephone: 03000 200 301 (Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm).

You can read more information from The Farming Advice Service on their website farmingadviceservice.org.uk

Royal Agricultural Benevolence Institution

Through the Royal Agricultural Benevolence Institution (RABI) members of farming communities across England and Wales can access a new, free counselling service. Accessed by a free 24/7 confidential helpline, RABI will put you in touch with a counsellor within 24 hours, without the need for a clinical referral.

They know that talking to someone who understands the challenges and pressures of farming can really help, and this support is available over the phone, via video or in person. The helpline number is 0800 188 4444. You can also e-mail them at help@rabi.org.uk

Farming Community Network

The Farming Community Network (FCN) has an established, confidential national helpline and e-helpline which is open every day of the year from 7am to 11pm. Volunteers provide free, confidential, pastoral, and practical support to anyone who seeks help, including those experiencing stress, depression, or isolation. The Farming Community Network’s helpline number is 03000 111 999.

We encourage anyone who needs to, who feels they need help or might be struggling, to reach out to us or one of these organisations.

Contact us

Email us

ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk

Call us

03000 200 301 (Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5pm, except bank holidays)

Write to us

CS customers:

Rural Payments Agency
PO Box 324
Worksop
S95 1DF

BPS customers:

Rural Payments Agency
PO Box 352
Worksop
S80 9FG

Follow us on social media

• Follow us on Twitter @ruralpay
• YouTube: Rural Payments Agency
• Facebookwww.facebook.com/RuralPaymentsAgency
• Sign up for our blog at Ruralpayments.blog.gov.uk
• Sign up for our Future Farming blog at defrafarming.blog.gov.uk