Farmers are advised to submit an annual declaration or claim before 15 May. The final deadline to submit a claim with a reduction is 2 September.
Before submitting, it is important to check that the land use codes recorded for the land parcels are correct and consistent with the claim.
The RPA will be applying more proportionate late claim reductions to claims received between 15 May and 2 September. The reduction will be scaled according to how late the claim is.
Read: Information on Countryside Stewardship 2024.
Farmers facing ‘cash-flow crisis’
The NFU is encouraging members to submit their revenue claims for CS and ES agreements “as soon as possible” said Deputy President David Exwood.
“With many farmers continuing to face a cash-flow crisis, meeting this deadline will be important to avoid any reduction and ensure claims can be processed by the RPA and payments made on time.”
Rural Payments Agency Chief Executive Paul Caldwell said: “I know how important cashflow is to rural businesses, particularly in the current climate, which is why we will continue processing claims as quickly as possible to get payments into farmers’ bank accounts.”
The RPA has also put out a reminder for those wanting to transfer all or some of their ‘reference amount’ for delinked payments to another business, that they must do so by 10 May 2024.
“With many farmers continuing to face a cash-flow crisis, meeting this deadline will be important to avoid any reduction and ensure claims can be processed by the RPA and payments made on time.”
NFU Deputy President David Exwood
The transfer window for delinked payments went live on 15 February 2024.
This will be the only opportunity for a business to transfer reference values from one business to another, while in cases of inheritance, a transfer can take place until 2027.
For more information, visit: Delinked payments – read our latest guidance.