The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has been upgrading the Rural Land Register (RLR) which is used as the area basis on which payments for Environmental Stewardship schemes are calculated. As a result of this exercise Natural England have identified that some field parcels may have changed such that the area payments for Environmental Stewardship linked to them will also have altered. In some cases this will have resulted in an over-payment to the agreement holder.
Who will this affect?
Natural England have confirmed that they will not be recovering these over-payments for affected Environmental Stewardship agreements if the changes in field parcel size are:
· a result of the technical accuracy improvements in the way the land is mapped.
· where the over-payments are 100 Euro or less.
However, due to EU regulations, Natural England does have to recover over-payments where there has been a significant reduction in the area previously declared. Therefore, Natural England will be issuing letters to affected Environmental Stewardship agreement holders who have been identified as having been overpaid in excess of 100 Euros as a result of changes on the ground that are not a result of the technical improvements in the accuracy of the mapping of field parcels. Natural England have informed the NFU that they believe that the number of cases where a recovery is required is in single figures.
How will the recovery be calculated?
The 100 Euro threshold will apply to each year separately and not cumulatively. Therefore as part of this recovery process Natural England are being asked to establish with agreement holders at what point in time any “real world changes” have been made, because multiple scheme years may be affected.
When will recovery of any overpayments start?
Natural England have also reassured the NFU that they will only pursue recoveries against those agreement holders with new maps that have been fully confirmed. The recovery process will allow for representations if an agreement holder feels that the recovery is based on incorrect RLR data.
How will the payments be recovered?
The repayment will be carried out by the RPA offering three payment options:
1. Pay in full by BACS transfer
2. Pay in full by cheque
3. Deduction from your next CAP payment.
However, any members recieving a recovery letter and having trouble in paying the recovered funds should get in touch with Natural England as soon as possible to discuss the possibility of other payment options. Their contact details will be given in the letter.
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