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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.

The table below explains some terms 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.

How Tax is handled

Grant payments under FTF are subject to normal UK tax rules, so you may need to tell HMRC about this grant. For more information, speak with your accountant or go to www.gov.uk and search for BIM40451.

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.

Suppliers

Your grant is calculated on the value of the cheapest supplier quote submitted. You can use a more expensive supplier quote but will be expected to fund the difference in cost yourself. If you want to use a quote or supplier which is different to those submitted as part of your application, you must request a variation in advance by contacting us at GSClaimqueries@rpa.gov.uk

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.

The claim form contains important information about completing your claim form:

• Section 1: Claim details
• Section 2: Approved grant funding
• Section 3: Detail of grant amount you wish to claim
• Section 4: Confirming your claim
• Annex 1: Progress report
• Annex 2: Asset register
• Annex 3: Continuation sheet

You can only update the parts of the form that you need to complete.

Sections 1 and 2 of the claim form will be completed for you, but you should check this information to make sure it is correct.

Section 3 must be completed by the agreement holder or someone who has permission to Make legal changes or Full permissions for the business. The first column, Description of item, will be completed for you but you must fill in the remaining columns as follows.

Section 4 is the total amount you wish to claim and the declaration that you are signing up to by submitting your claim. You should total up the amounts from the section 3 column Amount you wish to claim () and enter this figure in section 4.

Annex 1 Progress report

The first 2 columns will be completed for you. Please fill in the remaining columns as follows.

You need to collect and keep evidence of the outputs and conditions met. Please submit copies of this information with grant claims and progress reports.

Annex 2 - Asset register

The asset register records capital assets bought as part of the project. You should submit a completed copy if your claim contains a capital asset and an updated copy should be submitted with your final claim, if appropriate.

Annex 3 Continuation sheet

You should use the continuation sheet to provide additional information regarding any outputs or project specific conditions that are behind schedule. Detail as much information as you can about why progress is delayed and any new dates for expected completion. If required, a member of the Grants Service team will contact you to discuss further.

Once you have completed and checked your claim form, send an electronic copy to

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