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This guide is for successful applicants who have been awarded a Farming Transformation Fund (FTF) grant. It explains the steps you must follow to comply with the funding rules for your grant.

About your Grant Funding Agreement

Your Grant Funding Agreement (GFA) is the legally binding agreement between the agreement holder and the Rural Payments Agency (RPA). It contains:

Part 1: agreement letter and annexes

Part 2: terms and conditions

You should read both parts of your GFA carefully and in full, so that you understand your legal rights and responsibilities under the agreement.

If you need more information about your agreement or if you think your project is not on track to meet the conditions, outputs, or payment profile, you should contact your project management team (RPA) as soon as possible.

These terms are used in the FTF application process:

The important points of your agreement letter and annexes in Part 1 include:

• the total expenditure, which is eligible for funding, a list of items eligible for grant funding and the grant rate (%)

• details of your grant claims by date and amount, based on the information in your application

• the outputs which your project should achieve and any special conditions you must meet

You must meet the terms and conditions in Part 2 as a condition of receiving the grant.

You should read both parts of your agreement carefully and in full, so that you understand your legal rights and responsibilities under the agreement.

If you need more information about your agreement or it seems that your project is not on track to meet conditions, outputs, or financial profile, you should contact your project management team as soon as possible.

How VAT is handled

Your GFA tells you how VAT will be handled in the project. This is based on the information you gave in your application. If your VAT status changes within the period of the contract, you must tell RPA straight away. If you do not, we may recover funds.

Agreement holders are fully responsible for their own VAT affairs.

Your Single Business Identifier (SBI) number

RPA uses the SBI number you registered your business against to pay your claims. You must make sure that your business bank details are also registered with RPA, otherwise payment of your claim will be delayed. If you need to check that we have your business bank details, please call us on 03000 200 301.

Submitting claims

You should follow the claims schedule in Part 1 of your agreement to submit claims.

When to make a claim

You can submit a claim earlier than the scheduled date.

If you think there will be a delay in submitting any claims, you must discuss this with RPA as soon as possible. In some circumstances RPA may agree to a written request to delay the timing of your claim.

Completing the claim form

You must keep accurate records of all expenditure which you wish to claim grant on.

You will receive a claim form that must be completed by the person(s) who signed the agreement or someone who has permission to Make legal changes or Full permissions for the business as detailed on the Rural Payments service.

More guidance on making a claim will be published when available.

Expenditure is eligible where it:

• contributes directly to the operation and delivery of the project
• is listed in Part 1 of your agreement
• is exclusively for the project
• is incurred after the project start date
• is for items which have been fully paid for by the agreement holder business and evidence is provided with the claim, for example, the business bank statement

Payments will not be accepted if they are made from personal accounts or a different business account.

Supporting your claim

You must provide the following documents to support your claim.

Invoices

You must include invoices that:

• fully describe the work done and cost out each item, or describes work separately
• are addressed to the same person or business as detailed in the GFA
• show the suppliers name, address, VAT number and date

If an invoice is emailed to you from a supplier, you should forward the original email with the invoice attached.

Bank statements

You must submit original or true copies of business bank statements showing the invoice payment being made and the cheque number of the payment, if applicable.

You can submit screenshots from an online account showing payment details and bank logos, or a certified report printed from a banking system. RPA cannot accept edited bank statements.

Bank statements should include the:

• banks name and logo
• account holders name in full
• account number
• sort code
• transaction date
• transaction type (including payee ref and cheque number)
• transaction amount
• date bank evidence generated

BACS payments

For BACS payments, RPA will need to see the full audit trail including the report that details all of the invoices in the BACS payment. RPA will only need to see the invoices that relate to the claim.

Credit card purchases

For items purchased by credit cards, you will need to show that the item has been purchased in full by a credit card linked to the agreement holder business. If any other credit card is used, there must be evidence to show that the item is transferred to the ownership of the agreement holder before a claim is made.

Hire purchase

For items paid for by hire purchase, you will only be able to claim for these items once the final instalment has been made and the item is delivered and in your ownership.

Deposits

Deposits you can only claim for deposits on items if you have previously discussed and agreed them with us and they are outlined in your agreement. These deposits should not be more than 40% of the value of the item.

Multiple invoices or payments

Where an invoice includes a number of items but not all are eligible, you must explain which items you intend to claim for on that invoice. RPA will only pay grants for these eligible items. Invoices must be paid in full.

If youve made a payment to a supplier that covers more than one invoice, you need to provide copies of all the invoices included in the payment.

Payments in any other currency

If your claim includes payments made in any currency other than pound () sterling, you will need to convert these to pound () sterling on your claim form using the exchange rate on the date the invoice was paid. Find the exchange rate using HMRC exchange rates on GOV.UK.

If the exchange rate on the day the invoice was paid means you have paid less than the cost listed in part 1 of your agreement, this is the amount you are eligible to claim. If the exchange rate on the day the invoice was paid means you have paid more than the cost listed in part 1 of your agreement, you can only cl

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