How to apply
To apply for the BPS in England in 2022, follow the four steps below
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Check: your BP5 form and your personal and business details
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Change: tell us about land or entitlement transfers and changes to land parcels
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Complete: your BP5 application form
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Confirm: send us your BP5 application form (including any supporting evidence, making sure your SBI number is on anything that you send
More detail on each of these steps can be found below.
Check your BP5 application form
We have filled in the BP5 application form for you with information we already hold in the Rural Payments service, but it is important that you check the information printed on the form. Some of the information on the form may not be correct, for example if you have any outstanding mapping updates we still need to do.
Important - You need to check your BP5 application form and update it if you find any of the information is wrong or has changed. You are responsible for making sure the information on the application form is correct.
When your BP5 application form is created, the information is pre-populated from the information we currently hold from previous years’ application information and updated mapping information.
You need to make sure that:
- you check that your digital maps in the Rural Payments service are correct, including the land cover
- all the agricultural areas on your holding which are 0.0100 hectares or more, are included on the form, even if you are not claiming BPS on that land
- you also include any non- agricultural land, including woodland, you have in agreements under an agri-environment or woodland scheme, such as Countryside Stewardship and Farm Woodland Schemes and the National Forest Changing Landscape Scheme
- land in the Woodland Carbon Fund or HS2 Woodland Fund should also be included where it is already registered with us
- the land uses for each land parcel you have are on the form. If you have a land parcel with more than one land use, you need to tell us about all the land uses in that parcel. If there is a permanent non-agricultural feature that is not showing on your maps, you need to sketch this on a map and send it to us with an RLE1 form
- you submit an RLE1 to tell us about land that is now non-agricultural due to being managed as part of an agri-environment or woodland scheme agreement Permanent non-agricultural land needs to be declared on your BPS application under a relevant non-agricultural land use code or under the land use code RD01 where it meets the BPS eligibility criteria
- the area you want to claim payment for BPS in each land parcel is correct (column C8).
Important All of the land information that we print, or you write, on your application form needs to be to 4 decimal places (for example 1.2775ha). If you have any problems doing this, we recommend you round down rather than using normal rounding rules. For example, if the parcel is 2.47725ha, record it as 2.4772ha, rather than 2.4773ha.
Are you registered in the Rural Payments service?
To receive BPS payments, you need to be registered in the Rural Payments service. If you applied last year, you should already have done this.
Sign in to the Rural Payments service.
Or you can sign in using the link on the RPA page on GOV.UK and click ‘Sign in to the Rural Payments service’.
Depending how you registered for the service you’ll need your:
- Customer reference number (CRN) and password, if you registered through RPA. Click ‘Sign in with your customer reference number and password’. For security, do not share your password with anyone, or
- ‘Verify’ login details if you registered through GOV.UK ‘Verify’. Click ‘Sign in if you registered online with GOV.UK Verify’ link and follow the onscreen instructions. (If you have any questions about this process, you need to contact the company you verified your details with.)
Check you can sign in before you plan to make your application. If you’ve forgotten your CRN, phone our helpline on 03000 200 301. If you have problems signing in to the Rural Payments service, read the section ‘Sign in to the Rural Payment service’ of the BPS How to apply online guide.
If you’re new to BPS call the helpline on 03000 200 301 and we will help you to register.
You should check your information in the Rural Payments service.
Check your personal and business details
Check that the personal and business details we hold for you are correct. We’ll use these to contact you or your agent, if you have one, about your application. It’s quicker and easier for us to contact you or your agent using email, so please make sure the email address registered for your business is correct. You can check your details and update them, if necessary, online using the Rural Payments service.
If you cannot do this online, call us on 03000 200 301, with your SBI number.
Check your bank account details
It’s important that your bank account details are up to date and valid or we will not be able to pay you for BPS and any other schemes you are claiming for.
We’ll make payments in sterling only.
We’ll use the bank account details we already have to pay you. If you want to be paid into a different account, you need to call us before 11 November 2022.
To amend your bank account details, call us on 03000 200 301. You cannot change them online or by email. You need to have ‘Business details: Full or Make legal changes’ permission level in the Rural Payments service before you ask us to update your bank account details.
To help prevent fraud, after payments start on 1 December 2022 until the end of December, there are restrictions on updating bank account details. We can only update details if we have asked you for them or if your bank has rejected payment.
Check your digital maps
You can use the Rural Payments service to check your digital maps, look at aerial photography for your holding and print maps of individual land parcels. Unfortunately, we cannot send you paper maps of your land.
We may have updated your digital maps since your 2021 application was submitted, using the latest information we have, including aerial photography and Ordnance Survey map updates. This keeps information about your land up to date and we use it to check any applications you make.
It’s important that you check this information to make sure it’s correct. If the information is incorrect, you need to fill in an RLE1 form and submit it to us with a sketch map. You can find more information in the RLE1 guidance on GOV.UK.
You can see the ‘land cover’ for your land parcels on your digital maps, this will be either arable, permanent pasture, permanent crops or in non-agricultural use. It’s important that this information is correct.
To change the land cover for a land parcel, you need to fill in an RLE1 form and a sketch map. Where there is only one land cover for a land parcel, you can call us to update it. You can find more information in the RLE1 guidance on GOV.UK.
Access to your business
You can give someone else ‘access to your business’ in the Rural Payments service to help you make your application (such as an agent).
If you want someone to submit your application for you, they need to be set up in the Rural Payments service with BPS ‘Submit’ permissions.
You can read more information about setting permissions in the ‘Check your information’ section of the BPS How to apply online guidance.
Tell us about land and entitlement transfers
The quickest way to tell us about some changes to your land or entitlements is using the Rural Payments service at www.ruralpayments.service.gov.uk.
Use it for:
- land transfers
- entitlement transfers
You can transfer entitlements or land by sale, gift or lease using the Rural Payments service. Making entitlement or land transfers online, wherever possible, means the information will be updated quicker than if you fill in an RLE1 form. You will also get an acknowledgement once you have completed your transfer and you can check your entitlements position online.
If you are unable to use the Rural Payments service, you can complete an RLE1 form electronically and email it to us as a PDF email attachment.
Send your electronically completed RLE1 form and any supporting documents by email to ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk.
If you need to post an RLE1 form to us instead, please send it to:
Rural Payments
PO Box 352
Worksop
S80 9FG.
Changes to entitlements
You need to fill in an RLE1 form if you want to:
- sub-lease
- transfer through inheritance
- give up entitlements to RPA
- transfer by sale or as a gift
- transfer by lease.
To extend a lease or end it early, call us on 03000 200 301, email: ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk or write to:
Rural Payments Agency
PO Box 352
Worksop
S80 9FG
Only the lessor can extend or end a lease early.
If you cannot use the online service, use an RLE1 form. You can print an RLE1 form online by searching for ‘RLE1 form and guidance’ at www.gov.uk’. Or you can call us on 03000 200 301 if you don’t have access to a computer.
Changes to land parcels
You will also need to use an RLE1 form and a sketch map to tell us about:
- adding land parcels not already mapped with us
- amending a permanent land parcel boundary
- splitting a land parcel into 2 or more land parcels (due to a new permanent land parcel boundary)
- merging 2 or more land parcels into one land parcel (due to the removal of a permanent land parcel boundary)
- a permanent non-agricultural feature not already mapped with us
- a permanent non-agricultural feature already mapped with us no longer exists
- transferring a land parcel with an online ‘holding type’ of ‘tenant’ or where less than 100% of the land parcel is owned. If the land parcel shows the holding type as ‘tenant’ or less than 100% owned and this is incorrect, you will need to fill in a ‘Change land tenure form’. You can download a copy of the form from GOV.UK, search for ‘Change land tenure’
- changes to land cover (arable, permanent grassland, permanent crops or non-agricultural) including where the change to non-agricultural use has happened under an agri- environment agreement (such as Countryside Stewardship), the National Forest Changing Landscapes Scheme, Woodland Carbon Fund or HS2 Woodland Fund. Where there is only one land cover for a land parcel you can call us
- if you disagree with any updates, we have made to your land on our digital land maps including:
- changes to a permanent land parcel boundary
- changes to the land cover where there is more than one land cover for a land parcel (Where there is only one land cover for a land parcel you can call us)
- removal of non-agricultural features. (There is no deadline for sending your RLE1 and sketch map to tell us you disagree with a mapping update. Read the instructions in the ‘How to check and update your digital maps’ or the ‘Land cover changes’ section of the RLE1 guidance 2022, which you can find on GOV. UK.
You do not need to use an RLE1 form or send us a sketch map to:
- tell us about changes to your eligible land uses in a land parcel
- map any features or options you have in an agri-environment or woodland scheme, such as CS or ES – unless they are a permanent non-agricultural feature for BPS that we have not already mapped
- tell us about features that will only be temporarily non-agricultural (read ’How to check your BP5 application form’ for more information) – you can do this on the BP5 application form.
You can read more information about eligible land and ineligible features in the ‘Basic Payment Scheme: rules for 2022’, on GOV.UK.
Make any changes you need to on the form by hand, then return the form and any supporting documents to us by post.
Write your SBI on every page you post if it’s not already shown.
Send us your application
You need to send your BP5 application form so that we receive it by midnight on 16 May 2022 to avoid receiving a penalty (or by midnight on 10 June 2022 with penalties).
Send them to:
Rural Payments
PO Box 352
Worksop,
S80 9FG
Important:
- Keep a copy of everything you send us.
- Check at the Post Office that you’ve paid the right postage, or your application may be delayed.
- Consider getting proof of posting as the form is an important document.
- We cannot accept your BP5 application form or any supporting documents by email.
How you will know we have received your paper application
We’ll send you confirmation by post to tell you we have received your form. Contact us if you’ve not received an acknowledgement within 10 working days of sending it to us.
Before posting any supporting documents to us, you should put your name and address on the front page, and your SBI on every page. We do not send confirmation receipts for any supporting documents we receive separately from the paper form. We will return any supporting documents to you by post, usually within 3 working days.
Important - Remember to keep a copy of your application and any documents you send to us.
Changing your application after you’ve sent it to us
There are some changes you can make to your application after you have sent it to us – read the ‘Basic Payment Scheme: rules for 2022’ for details of these. The ‘Key dates’ section tells you when you can make changes to your application. Send any changes to us at the address above.