BPS claims: Hints and tips for 2023

The Basic Payment Scheme scheme may be well-established, but there are always aspects with the potential to trip up applicants.

As the deadline for applications in all regions approaches on 15 May 2023, Farmers Weekly asks specialists what farmers should consider before completing their claim form.

See also: Advice on English 2023 BPS claims as delinked payments near

England

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Richard Wordsworth, NFU senior support scheme adviser, highlights that 2023 is the final year for farmers in England to complete a Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) form.

BPS and cross-compliance requirements will be in force until 31 December 2023, so farmers need to continue to follow the current rules throughout the entire calendar year.

BPS entitlements will end in 2023 and the deadline for transfers is 15 May.

Farmers must hold sufficient entitlements to underpin this year’s claim, but entitlements will not be required after this date.

From 2024, BPS will be replaced by delinked payments, based on the farmer’s average BPS payments for the 2020-22 scheme years.

To access delinked payments, in addition to having a BPS reference amount value, an eligible claim for BPS must be submitted in 2023.

Delinked payments will be reduced each year from 2024 to 2027.

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) says there have been no “farmer-facing” changes to the online Rural Payments service since 2022 applications, but advises farmers to refamiliarise themselves with the procedure.

It is no longer possible to use a gov.uk verify account to sign in to the Rural Payments service. Everyone will need to use their existing RPA identify customer reference number and password.

Applicants need to ensure that land/rights claimed online for BPS work their way through to the actual claim made. Read the “how to apply” guidance section carefully on this.

Also remember to visit the “activate less BPS area” or “activate less commons” screens to double check and amend, if necessary, any erroneous entries.

Those who returned a paper BP5 in 2022 should be sent this year’s paper form by early April. Check as soon as possible that the details held by the RPA are correct.

Being prepared now means less disruption later, especially for those relying on help to complete their claim.

Farmers who have applied for the Lump Sum Exit Scheme, and have not yet completed their farming exit or been paid, may want to apply for BPS 2023.

This will offer protection if it is later proven they are not eligible for the lump sum, or are unable to complete the land transfer by 31 May 2024.

After BPS has closed, continue to update land data by checking the digital maps in the Rural Payments service. Not doing so could affect payments under any existing or future schemes.

Wales

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The Farmers Union of Wales (FUW) assists more than 3,000 members with the completion and submission of their single application forms (SAFs) and highlights a number of areas to watch.

For each field, think about and check for any changes compared with previous years, rather than taking last year’s data for granted.

Sometimes there are changes – for example, to field boundaries – that have been made but forgotten about.

Alternatively, Rural Payments Wales (RPW) may have made changes internally but not informed the applicant about these, and they could be incorrect.

Once details have been confirmed to be true, it is difficult to undo.

Be particularly careful to correct any perceived errors for ineligible land in large mountain areas.

In open mountain land, for example, large areas of bracken or rocks may previously have been included in eligible areas by government mapping, and this is taken to be accurate.

If the total ineligible area found is larger than 2ha, the fines double, and above a threshold the entire payment can be lost.

Keep an eye out for a preliminary check letter which will highlight potential errors with the information which has been submitted on the SAF.

The letters are issued as soon as possible after 15 May, and any changes farmers want to make must be submitted by 19 June 2023.

The unions have fought hard to get farmers the right to correct potential mistakes without penalty, and while this may seem like an extra bit of paperwork, it’s there to help reduce losses.

Don’t forget to properly claim on common land – for some, it is 25% or much more of their claim.

The deadline for entitlement transfers is 15 May 2023.

Scotland

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The Farm Advisory Service, which operates in Scotland, is advising claimants to check that their contact and funding details held by Rural Payments and Services are correct, to prevent any miscommunication or payment hold-ups.

A new mapping system with increased functionality has been introduced over the past 18 months.

Awareness raising among farmers is ongoing to ensure they know that land change notifications can be made online.

Changes can still be submitted on paper, but the turnaround time is quicker if made online.

Claimants are encouraged to submit changes early, so that the land mapping team has time to make the amendments before farmers start their single application form (SAF).

Any land change notifications submitted online or received on paper up to and including 16 April will be processed by the land mapping team.

The mapping system can also be used by farmers to create a map locating their ecological focus areas (EFA).

If the map is submitted to the online LPIS graphical editor, the farmer does not need to upload a separate map within their SAF claim.

For those looking to transfer Basic Payment Scheme entitlements, all transfer forms must be submitted by 3 April 2023.

The EFA agroforesty option has been changed to include EFA small or farm woodlands.

This includes stands of woodland established under the small or farm woodland option FGS081-09 of the Forestry Grant Scheme (FGS).

Northern Ireland

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Eilis Kelly, of Kelly Agricultural Consultants, highlights that the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) has introduced a new secure messaging service to communicate with applicants after they have submitted their application.

The service is being phased in, but customers should be contacted directly by Daera when a new secure message is available to view online.

Entitlement transfer applications must be submitted by 2 May 2023, and farmers need to make sure that all of their entitlements are being used.

Any entitlement, or fraction of an entitlement, that remains unused for two consecutive years could be confiscated and returned to the regional reserve.

Farmers who are in an Environmental Farming Scheme (EFS) will also need to make a claim for their annual environmental payments on the single application.

However, they will be unable to do this until early April. Anyone who joined the EFS in 2022 may find their information is not available to allow completion of this step until late April.

Single application forms can be submitted until 9 June 2023. However, those received between 16 May and 9 June will be penalised by 1% a day.

Applications submitted by 15 May can be amended until 31 May without penalty.

Young farmers applying for the first time will need to put in a separate Young Farmers’ Payment form in addition to their single application.