Farmers will no longer face penalties for minor over-claims of land under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), it has been announced.
The measures form part of reforms designed to reduce paperwork and simplify the BPS for new and inexperienced rural and agricultural businesses.
The BPS supports UK farmers by providing subsidy grants based on the amount of land they actively farm. Farmers with at least five hectares of agricultural land and five ‘entitlements’ can apply, but not all land can be claimed for if certain business activities are carried out on them.
The complicated rules meant that it was easy to mistakenly over-claim payments and incur significant penalties – even for the most minor infringements.
But there will now be no penalty for an over-claim of no more than two hectares or three per cent of the area determined. If the over-claim is more than two hectares or three per cent, but not more than 10 per cent of the area determined, the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) will apply a penalty of 0.75 times the size of the over-claim.
Over-claims of more than 10 per cent, meanwhile, will attract penalties of 1.5 times the size of the over-claim.
Welcoming the news, Farming Minister Victoria Prentis said: “This is a small change that will make a big difference to our farmers this year.
“I am really pleased to see this change come into effect. We will continue to work hard to make claims as straightforward as possible to ensure our farmers don’t get hit with penalties for small over-claims.”
RPA Chief Executive Paul Caldwell added: “I am pleased to announce that changes to the BPS over-claim penalties will come into effect for the 2020 scheme.
“We want to continue improving the delivery of our schemes to farmers. Changes to the way these penalties are calculated will mean farmers will feel the benefit come December when payments are made. Penalties applied for small over-claims of land will be simpler and more proportionate.”
For more information about the BPS, please click here.
For help understanding how these changes affect your rural or agriculture business, please get in touch with our expert team.