BIM55136 - Farming: Phasing Out the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS):
As
a result of the European Union exit the current BPS for farming subsidies is
being replaced with new environmental land management schemes. DEFRA is changing how it makes payments to agricultural landowners/farmers in
England
(other nations in the UK will have their own plans).
There are 3 new schemes that will reward environmental land management and are intended to support the rural economy:
Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI),
- which will pay farmers to adopt and maintain
sustainable farming practices that can protect and improve
the environment.
Countryside Stewardship (CS),
- which will pay for more targeted actions relating
to specific locations, features and habitats.
Landscape Recovery,
- which will pay for bespoke, longer-term, larger scale projects to
enhance the natural environment.
The
current BPS scheme, which provides direct payments to farmers ended on 31
December 2023.
Delinked payments will replace BPS in 2024 and will be phased out by 2027.
As part of the phasing out of direct payments, the eligibility criteria will be
de-linked from the land from 1 January 2024. This means that recipients will no
longer have to farm the land to receive the payments.
The mechanism for phasing out the direct payments is Progressive Reductions with
the Progressive Reductions calculator to assist you. More
information can be found here -
https://calculate-direct-payment-reductions.defra.gov.uk/