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At NFU Conference, the Secretary of State announced that capital grants would re open for applications in July with a budget of £225m. This budget is an increase from £150m in 2025. We await further detail to see if there will be other changes to the scheme before it opens to applications.
Spending limits
Spending limits have been introduced across the four categories.
These will be:
- £25,000 for water quality
- £25,000 for air quality
- £25,000 natural flood management
- £35,000 for boundaries, trees and orchards
There are two groups of capital grants available that are not constrained by the spending limits. These are assessments (eg, wildfire checklist) and improvements (eg, educational access visits).
Your application can include items from more than one category.
The details of which actions fall into each category can be found in Annex 5 of the applicants guidance.
The RPA will only accept one submitted application in a calendar year for each SBI (Single Business Identifier) that you manage.
New ELM capital items
The main capital item offer is closed to new applications. Capital items are available in CS Higher Tier. These can be accessed through a standalone capital application.
The offer is made up of 78 capital items. These can be found using Defra's grant finder tool. There are four new items available now to help:
- assess woodland
- create a wildfire checklist
- repair stone walls
- host educational access visits.
Support for educational access visits is limited to 25 per year and you must be in an agri-environment scheme. The application will default to 25 visits per year, 75 across three years. You do not need to complete 75 visits during the agreement. The agreement holder claims for the visits delivered in each year.
In 2026, Defra will add an additional four items to the capital grants offer:
- accreditation for educational access visits
- installing and maintaining signage
- using tree surgery to hinge a tree into a water course and,
- creating or restoring ponds.
These items are available to CS Higher Tier applicants.
Catchment Sensitive Farming
Some air and water quality ELM capital items are targeted and require CSF (Catchment Sensitive Farming) support before they can be included in an application (see Annex 2 table 1 for a list of items). Without CSF support, the RPA will remove these items from an application. CSF advice visits can be requested using a form on the government's website: GOV.UK | Get advice from CSF.
Agreement period and claims
Agreements are for a maximum of three years. During this period, you must complete all capital works.
You must maintain the capital items for a minimum of five years from the start of your agreement.
You will then have three months from the end of the agreement period to submit your payment claim.
For most ELM capital items, it is possible to do a part-claim, with a minimum claim value of £500. Part-claims are not available for some items (eg, RP11 swales, RP15 concrete yard renewal and RP7 sediment ponds and traps).
Evidence requirements
Each capital item sets out the evidence requirements that you need to meet. These may be requested by the RPA to support your claim.
Evidence can range from consent for SSSI works or planning permission (if needed, this should be in place before work starts) to invoices, receipts, accounts and other documentation. You must be able to demonstrate you started the works or purchased items on or after the agreement start date.
Some items require photographs to be taken before, during and after the works have been completed. This is set out in the details of the specific capital item.
Future rounds of ELM capital grants
Defra has announced that the next round of capital items will open in July.
The last round of ELM capital items closed on 1 August 2025 when the budget was committed. Funding is not guaranteed even if an application has been submitted and is eligible.
Wider ELM capital item offer
Applications are open for:
- Woodland Tree Health grants, which help protect tree health against devastating plant pests and diseases.
- Capital grant plans and management plans to help support the development of new Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier agreements.
- Protection and Infrastructure grants and Higher Tier capital grants, help support delivery of high value environmental benefits, such as re-wetting peat.
