GovWire

If you are a farmer or land manager and claimed rural payments between 2005 and 2023, you had to follow a set of rules called cross compliance. These rules end at midnight on31 December 2023.

Regulations will continueto protect the environment, and animal health and welfare. Compliance will be monitoredby the existing statutory bodies and regulated in a fair, proportionate, and consistent way.This means, wherever possible, we will work with you to get it right and give you opportunities to self-correct before we need to take any formal action.

2024 Agreement holders

The applicant and agreement holders guides published in 2023 for agreements starting 1 January 2024 will have included references to cross compliance. We have updated the terms and conditions of your agreement to reflect the end of cross compliance. These updated terms and conditions will apply to your agreement when it starts on 1 January 2024. The Applicant and Agreement holders guides will also be updated to reflect this change.

2016 to 2023 Agreement holders

We have updated the terms and conditions of your agreements to reflect the end of cross compliance. Mid Tier and Higher Tier agreement holders guides will not be updated, however all references to cross compliance in these guides are no longer relevant. We have amended the guides to remove cross compliance for capital only agreements, starting in 2023.

You must continue to comply with domestic legislation. You can find more information about this in the following:

Rules for all Agreement holders

The removal of cross compliance will only have limited impact on the way you manage your agreement. You must continue to comply with legal requirements around certain farming activities to protect people, livestock and the environment. These rules are set out in the Rules for farmers and land managers.

There are a small number of cross compliance rules that do not have the same requirements in English law. These cross compliance rules are:

• certain rules on hedgerows and other field boundaries

• watercourse buffer strips

• soils

You will need to consider if they affect options in your agreement.

Hedgerows

Existing hedgerow legislation continues to apply. Protections are in place for nest-building and young birds, and for the sheltering places of wild animals.You must not remove hedgerows without contacting your local planning authority first.

We have consulted on hedgerow protections including:

• whether to have a buffer strip 2 metres from the centre of a hedgerow to protect its structure, and

• not cutting during the bird rearing season

We will publish our response to the consultation and more guidance on this page in the coming weeks.

Stone walls, earth and stone banks

Stone walls, earth and stone banks that have been created or maintained through a Stewardship option, must remain in placeand be subject to the terms of your existing agreement.

In addition, you will need to consider any other legal obligations, for example if there are planning protections in conservation areas for certain boundary features. Your local planning authority will provide more information and you should contact them before you take any action.

Water buffer strips

You must consider the legal requirements around the protection of watercourses and waterbodies.

The Farming rules for water prevent the use of manure and fertiliser close to a water course. You must take all reasonable precautions to prevent pollution from land management and cultivation practices, such as spraying pesticides.

There is no longer a requirement to maintain a green cover on land either

• within 2 metres of the centre of a watercourse

• from 1 metre on the landward side of the bank

However, use of grass buffer strips continues to be one of the many importantactions you can take to prevent water pollution and meet the Farming Rules for Water.

Soils

The Farming rules for water continue to require reasonable precautions to be taken which will prevent soil erosion such as establishing cover crops and grass buffer strips.