GovWire

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is replacing the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) in England with delinked payments in 2024. The 2023 scheme year was the last year ofBPS.

The delinked payments scheme rules are set out in new regulations which came into force on 1 January 2024.

You will not need:

• any land or entitlements to receive delinked payments

• to apply to receive delinked payments, in 2024 or later years

RPAwill pay delinked payments each year from 2024 to 2027. The amount you receive will decrease each year as we apply progressive reductions. This is explained inHow delinked payments are calculated. 2027 will be the last year of delinked payments.

Check if youre eligible for delinked payments

To receive delinked payments, you must:

• be eligible - this means you must have claimed, and been eligible for,BPSpayments in England in the 2023 scheme year (or inherited eligible land after 15 May 2023). Read theBPSrules for 2023for information about eligibility forBPS

• have a reference amount

Yourreference amountwill normally be your averageBPSpayment in the reference period, which is theBPS2020 to 2022 scheme years. If you did not claimBPSin the reference period, you will only have a reference amount ifBPSreference datahas been transferred to you.

So long as you are eligible for delinked payments, the value of your payments for 2024 to 2027 will not be affected if:

• your farm size changes

• you change what the land is used for, afterBPS2022 (the last year of the reference period).

You can receive delinked payments even if you choose to stop farming after theBPS2023 application deadline (15 May 2023).

You will not be eligible for delinked payments if you have received a payment under theLump Sum Exit Scheme.

How reference amounts are calculated

Your delinked payments will be based on a reference amount. We use yourBPS2020, 2021 and 2022 payment information as thereference datato calculate your reference amount.

Your reference amount will be the average of theBPSpayments made to your business for these scheme years, including any young farmer payment or greening payment.

We will add up yourBPSpayments for the 2020,2021 and2022 scheme years and divide by 3. We will divide by 3 even if noBPSpayment was made to you in 1 or 2 of these 3 scheme years.

Your reference amount will be adjusted if:

• yourBPSreference data is amended as a result of furtherRPAchecks, such as following aBPSpayment query or appeal you have submitted for any of the reference years, 2020, 2021 or 2022

• BPSreference data has been transferred to or from your business

You are able to view your reference data in the Rural Payments service, in the View and transfer reference data section of the relevant business.

The reference data will take account of any:

• manual payments forBPS2020, 2021 or 2022

• reductions applied for over-claiming land

The reference data will not take account of:

• over-claim penalties (which can be applied toBPSpayments on top of over-claim reductions)

• reductions and penalties for not meeting the greening rules

• late application penalties

• penalties for not declaring all agricultural land parcels

• cross compliance penalties

• reductions to amounts above 150,000

• progressive reductions forBPS2021 andBPS2022

• amounts intercepted from yourBPS2020, 2021 or 2022 payments due to overpayments for other scheme years or other schemes

If you also claimedBPSon entitlements in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, your reference amount will be based only on the part of your payment which relates to your English entitlements. Payment schemes in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland will operate under the rules set by the relevant UK administration.

Your delinked payments information statement

In November, or December, 2023 we sent a statement for you to check, showing your reference amount based on the reference data we held for you at that time. We will use your reference amount when we calculate your delinked payments each year, if you are eligible.

If you claimedBPSin any of the scheme years 2020, 2021 or 2022, but did not receive an information statement, please contact us to request one.

How delinked payments are calculated

We will apply progressive reductions when we calculate your delinked payments each year. This means the value of the delinked payments will become a smaller proportion of the reference amount each year.

Your delinked payment each year =

your reference amount - progressive reductions for that year

The progressive reductions work in payment bands, on a sliding scale, like income tax bands. This means higher reductions will be applied to amounts in higher payment bands.

For 2025, we plan to reduce delinked payments by the percentages in the following table. These percentages will be set in new regulations, which are expected to come into force by the end of July 2025, following parliamentary approval.

For example, areference amount of 40,000 would have a 76% reduction applied to the first 30,000 of the payment (a reduction of 22,800). A 100% reduction would be applied to the next 10,000 (a reduction of 10,000). The payment would be reduced by 32,800 to 7,200.

You can use thedelinked payments calculatorto see how progressive reductions were applied to your payment for the 2024 scheme year. We will update the calculator for the 2025 scheme year. The progressive reductions for 2026 to 2027 have not been announced yet.

IfBPSreference data was used to calculate a payment under the Lump Sum Exit Scheme, it cannot also be used to calculate a delinked payment.

Transferring land after the reference period

Your reference amount will not be affected if you transfer out some or all of your land after 16 May 2022 (theBPS2022 deadline). For example, where your tenancy comes to an end and the land goes back to the landlord. You will still need to have claimed, and been eligible for,BPS2023 to receive delinked payments.

If you transfer in land after 16 May 2022, this will not increase your reference amount.

Receiving delinked payments

You will not need to apply to receive delinked payments.

We plan to make delinked payments to eligible customers in 2 instalments each year - an advance payment of around 50% from 1 August with the balance payment from 1 December.

However, for 2024 delinked payments, the second instalment will now be made from 30 September, rather than from December, to help farmers with their cashflow following the impact of wet weather.

You will receive remittance advice

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