How much could successful applicants receive?
Find out what facilitators are paid for and how much you could receive.
The maximum funding you could receive as a facilitator depends on the number of holdings involved in the group and the work that you do. For example:
- with 4 holdings you could receive up to £12,000 each year, which comprises £500 per holding and up to £10,000 for costs of delivering the cooperation
- with 10 holdings, the amount could rise to £15,000 up to a maximum of £50,000 each year for a group of 80 holdings. All applications will be assessed for value for money through a competitive process
If you are successful, you must meet all relevant rules (see below for more details) and provide evidence of spending incurred, to receive payments. Claims can be made on a quarterly basis in arrears or on a less frequent basis by agreement with the Rural Payments Agency.
- the running costs of facilitating the cooperation, including their salary costs
- the direct costs of the project set out in a detailed plan, which should include the transfer of knowledge and expertise
- pro-rata salary of the facilitator (whether employed or self-employed at an agreed rate)
- contributions to National Insurance or pensions
- costs associated with administration, travel and subsistence, meetings
- VAT where the facilitator is not VAT registered
- costs associated with providing training on activities that are directly required for the delivery of the CS priorities in the statements of priorities (training materials, training venues and buying in the trainers, in accordance with Annex 3)
- costs of submitting this application, or other activities, before its submission
- provision of one-to-one advice to a group member, completion of Countryside Stewardship applications on behalf of group members, provision of monitoring information to Natural England
- VAT where the facilitator is VAT registered
VAT is complex and you should not assume that VAT is recoverable, even if the business or organisation is registered. You should get advice from your accountant, a VAT specialist or HM Revenue and Customs, before submitting an application