Farming talk: Late claims will see payments shrink daily

Under new Common Agricultural Policy rules all Environmental Stewardship Scheme agreement holders will have to submit an annual claim form to Natural England by May 15 for land management options within the agreement. Claims for capital work can be claimed at any time during the year.

If forms are received by May 15, the agreement holder will receive the ES payment in full. If the form is submitted before June 9, the payment for the year will be reduced by one per cent for each working day the claim is late, mirroring subsidy payment deadlines. If a claim form is not submitted at all, the Environmental Stewardship holder will not receive a payment for that year. Hence it is extremely important that forms are submitted by May 15.

Natural England will be writing to all agreement holders in the coming months outlining the changes and claim forms will be sent out in March with a full explanation of how to make a claim.

From 2016, all new Countryside Stewardship Agreements will also require a completed claim form in order to receive the annual payment. Applications for the new Countryside Stewardship Scheme will be able to be made this summer to commence on January 1, 2016.

If farmers haven't already registered on the new online system for the Basic Payment Scheme they should do so now, making sure that they have all the information they need to hand before they register.

Information likely to be required:

• SBI number/CPH number/Vendor number

• Memorable information already set up with the RPA

• Remittance Advice from the RPA for 2014 claim

• Bank Details which RPA pay subsidy money in to

• Land Parcel details; Numbers/Names

• Entitlement Statement

If you do not have some information then the RPA will be able to ask you alternative questions.

The latest CAP update is available to download from the government website.