Chapter 10: Public payments
Updated 21 October 2022
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Summary
Key results for 2021
- Total direct payments to farmers are expected to decrease by £48 million (-1.4%) to £3,296 million.
- Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments are expected to increase by £47 million (1.7%) to £2,825 million.
- Payments linked to agri-environment schemes are expected to decrease by £77 million (-18%) to £355 million.
Introduction
This chapter shows the value of agricultural support payments in the United Kingdom. Agricultural support will vary as older schemes close and new schemes are introduced, therefore care should be taken when comparing between UK countries and years.
In 2021, agricultural support payments began to change following the UK’s departure from the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Payments made to UK farmers under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) before 2021 were set in Euros and converted to Sterling using the exchange rate set by the European Central Bank for the month of September as a whole. From 2021 onward all BPS payments are funded by the UK exchequer and greening requirements have been removed. BPS shown includes young farmer and redistributive payments and is reported by EU Financial Year which runs October to October. Direct comparisons cannot therefore be made with figures in Chapter 3.
Existing schemes under rural development programmes will continue to be co-funded from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) until 2024 or until remaining funds are depleted, whichever is sooner.
Over the next few years, payments previously made under the CAP will gradually be replaced by payments from the devolved governments. Agricultural domestic support will be administered through new schemes introduced in each country, and will generally be targeted at improving agri-environmental performance.
Direct Payments
The tables below show the direct payments made to agricultural producers that feed into the agricultural accounts (see Chapter 4). Amounts are shown by year and by country for the year 2021.
Values shown for a particular year refer to schemes operating in that year and are shown in current price, i.e. not adjusted for inflation, and are expressed as amounts expected to be paid.
Table 10.1: Direct payments to farmers 2019 to 2021 (£ million)
Enquiries: Charlotte Rowley on +44 (0)2077 141697
Email: farmaccounts@defra.gov.uk
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decoupled and other payments | |||
| Basic payment scheme | 2,808 | 2,778 | 2,825 |
| Agri-environment schemes | 360 | 433 | 355 |
| Less favoured areas support schemes | 51 | 30 | 31 |
| Animal disease compensation | 26 | 25 | 27 |
| Other | 13 | 31 | 12 |
| Total decoupled and other payments | 3,257 | 3,297 | 3,249 |
| Coupled payments (linked to production) | |||
| Total coupled payments less levies | 47 | 47 | 47 |
| Total direct payments less levies | 3,304 | 3,344 | 3,296 |
Notes:
- Decoupled payments are not linked to production and include the Basic Payment Scheme and agri-environment schemes. Coupled payments are linked to production.
- Other payments in 2021 include the New Entrants scheme operated in Scotland, and Covid 19 support schemes in Northern Ireland.
- Coupled payment schemes in 2021 include the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme, the Scottish Upland Sheep Scheme and the Northern Ireland Protein Crops Scheme. Total payments under the Protein Crops Scheme were £0.21 million and so are not shown in Table 10.2 below.
Download the full Public payments dataset.
Table 10.2: Direct payments to farmers by country (£ million).
Enquiries: Charlotte Rowley on +44 (0)2077 141697
Email: farmaccounts@defra.gov.uk
| England | Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decoupled and other payments | ||||
| Basic payment scheme | 1,852 | 238 | 426 | 309 |
| Agri environment schemes | 281 | 33 | 37 | 5 |
| Less favoured areas support schemes | .. | .. | 31 | .. |
| Animal disease compensation | 13 | 5 | .. | 8 |
| Other | .. | .. | 3 | 9 |
| Coupled payments | .. | .. | 47 | .. |
| Total direct payments less levies | 2,147 | 276 | 544 | 331 |
Notes:
- ’..’ means not applicable.
Download the full Public payments dataset.
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payments
Figure 10.1 shows all Pillar 2 Common Agricultural Policy payments for 2016 to 2021. Pillar 2 funds rural development programmes and schemes are co-funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development until 2024, or until funds are depleted. Data is presented by European Union agricultural financial years and shown in Euros.
In 2021, CAP-funded Pillar 1 payments ended and legacy schemes switched to UK funding. CAP Pillar 1 payments prior to 2021 can be viewed in the full dataset.
Figure 10.1: Pillar 2 Common Agricultural Policy payments for 2016 to 2021 (EUR million)
Enquiries: Michael Redfern on +44 (0)207 764 2327
Email: michael.redfern@ukcoordinatingbody.gov.uk
| Year | EAFRD | Co-financing | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 641 | 165 | 806 |
| 2017 | 542 | 261 | 803 |
| 2018 | 581 | 179 | 760 |
| 2019 | 776 | 225 | 1,001 |
| 2020 | 766 | 227 | 992 |
| 2021 | 638 | 189 | 827 |
Download the full Public payments dataset.
General Services Support
Table 10.3 shows the annual cost of general services funded by UK Government and Devolved Administrations to support the agricultural industry. These are services that benefit the sector as a whole, and do not include payments to individual producers.
Table 10.3: General services support for 2021
Enquiries: Charlotte Rowley on +44 (0)2077 141697
Email: farmaccounts@defra.gov.uk
| 2021 | |
|---|---|
| Agricultural research | 262 |
| Pest and disease control | 3 |
| Training services | 3 |
| Extension and advisory services | 75 |
| Inspection services | 199 |
| Marketing and promotions services | 42 |
| Infrastructural services | 43 |
Download the full Public payments dataset.
Revisions
Figures for 2021 are provisional and subject to revision.
As a result of more data becoming available over time there have been minor revisions to earlier years in this release. These revisions are intended to enhance the precision of these estimates. Sometimes additional revisions are necessary to refine the methodology or correct historical errors, such revisions will always be noted.
Below are a list of key revisions that have been carried out since the last publication:
-
Figures for total payments under agri-environment schemes from 2010 onwards have been revised to include the most recent data.
-
Figures for the number of agreements and the area under the Environmental Stewardship Scheme are in the process of being updated. Figures prior to 2018 do not currently include freestanding HLS agreements, and will be updated when data becomes available.
-
The latest UK-level figures for the area of land and number of agreements under agri-environment schemes have been removed from this publication while the methodology for England is being reviewed. Figures for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are available in the full dataset. The 2020 and 2021 figures for England will be updated when the data become available.