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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 for applications.
This webpage covers the details that have been published since NFU Conference. Watch out for updates as more information becomes available.
2026 offer
Spending limits
Spending limits are as they were with the 2025 offer across the four of the six funding 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 further 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).
Full details on the scope of the offer, the individual items, and the application process will be released in May 2026, ahead of applications opening.
Defra has confirmed that, as with the 2025 offer, you can submit only one application per SBI that you manage.
Budget management
When the application window opens Defra will share updates via its online blog when 25%, 50% and 75% of the funding is allocated.
What is available now?
While the ELMs capital grants offer is not yet open for new applications, there are capital items available for CS Higher Tier and a number of specific woodland, protection and infrastructure activities.
Find out more about these at: GOV.UK | Capital items: guidance for applicants and agreement holders.
Thinking of applying?
The message from Defra and the RPA is that preparing now will help with a swifter and fairer assessment of applications as well as helping to avoid disappointment if an application is rejected due to missing supporting information.
Key considerations include:
Existing previous year agreements
Defra is urging those that have already completed capital works under a CSMT, CSHT or a standalone capital grant agreement to make sure they are submitted, as this releases land parcels from an existing agreement so they can be included in a 2026 application.
If you want to remove or withdraw from a capital grant to be able to access the 2026 offer, you need to write to the RPA and the amendment team will pick it up.
Check details are up to date
As with any RPA scheme, it is always important to keep registered details with the RPA up to date such as contact details and permissions.
Check RPA maps are up to date
Field boundaries/parcels linked to the correct SBI need to be considered (as well as how any changes impact on other schemes in place). Remember, maps are required as supporting evidence to clearly show the location of capital works, or to identify the historic feature to be restored, or outline the area assessed under the woodland condition assessment.
Sometimes, the location of grant activity includes occupied land that may not have been registered before due to being ineligible for other schemes such as farmyards.
Check sufficient funds are available
Capital grant contributions are paid after the work is finished, so having available funding for up-front costs before claiming grant monies back is important. The RPA does need to check that you have enough funds to pay for the work where the value is more than £50,000, so financial planning is important and estimating the value of an application in advance is key.
The RPA suggests using the capital grant finder on GOV.UK to check the payment rate for each item. Where evidence is needed that would need to come from a qualified accountant from a recognised body.
Requirements and evidence for tenant farmers
Check whether the landlord’s agreement is needed before applying and the need for their countersignature if a tenancy does not last for at least five years from the start of your agreement.
Other additional evidence to support an application
For example, this could include consent from Historic England for works on historic or archaeological sites and checking your HEFER (Historic Environment Farm Environment Record) to see if there are any features that need advice or consent needs to be considered (checking the evidence requirements for each item before applying by searching for the item’s code on the capital grant finder).
Catchment Sensitive Farming
There is a requirement to have endorsement from CSF (Catchment Sensitive Farming) on 24 items (please refer to the 2025 items for which ones they are) under this grant. CSF has said it is now prioritising advice and support visits that have already been requested to help prepare for the 2026 round. CSF area teams will not be able to prioritise any new requests for advisory visits for this round but will be able to offer advisory visits later this year.
CSF will get in touch when it has capacity to help. In the meantime, a farmer can register for one of their free events at: farmingadviceservice.org.uk/events. CSF endorsement must be in place before the offer opens in July. If you have received CSF support in the past two years for these items, you can use this support when you apply in 2026 (though just check the dates on endorsement letters to make sure they are still valid).
Future rounds of ELM capital grants
Defra has said it is looking at all the capital grants, (including the productivity scheme, the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund) to better target and support farmers in 2027.
Existing capital grant agreements
For more information on existing agreements, head to: GOV.UK | Existing agreement holder's information: capital items.
