How to apply

This is an old version of the page

Date published: 16 March, 2015

Date superseded: 19 January, 2017

To apply for this scheme and to claim your entitlements, you must submit a Single Application Form. This is normally sent to you in March each year, unless you are a new claimant or did not claim the previous year.

The easiest and quickest way to complete the form is through registering and logging in to Rural Payments and Services.

If you prefer to complete a paper application form, please contact your local area office to be sent the form and guidance. You can find out more about the Single Application Form below.

Single Application Form

The closing date for the Single Application Form is 15 May. If we receive your form after 15 May, we will apply late claim penalties and your payment will be reduced by three per cent for each working day it is late, up to 25 calendar days after the closing date.

If we receive your claim over 25 calender days late, all payments for this and future years will be lost.

If your claim is late due to force majeure or exceptional circumstances, we may accept your claim. However, you must write to your area office with the relevant evidence within 10 working days of your knowledge of the incident.

It is your responsibility to obtain and submit a Single Application Form on or before 15 May each year.

The easiest way to submit a Single Application Forms is online by registering with Rural Payments and Services. If you submit your form online, we will:

• calculate your totals automatically
• reduce the chance of you making mistakes
• provide 24-hour access and give you an instant receipt
• give you up to date Single Farm Payment Scheme entitlement information

For help and assistance to register online, please visit our Customer services section

Customer services

The majority of businesses will use (claim payment on and be eligible to receive payment) all of their Basic Payment Scheme entitlements every year and will meet the usage rules of the scheme.

If you do not, it is important to note that you may lose some or all of your entitlements, unless you can prove that your business suffered a force majeure or exceptional circumstances event, which prevented you from doing so.

You must use your entitlements each year. If you do not you will lose the ones not used, permanently.

If you buy entitlements (not lease them) your usage will start afresh in the first year you are eligible to claim on them. If you lease them, please be aware that the current usage will carry forward and will not start afresh.

The person leasing the entitlements (lessee) is responsible for ensuring that usage requirements during the lease are met. We will always record usage against their owned entitlements first. It is therefore up to both parties to ensure the usage requirements are met.

If the leased entitlements are not used, they will be lost to both parties. We will not get involved in any dispute due to non-usage and the loss of entitlements at the end or part way through the lease.

Remember:

Submit your application in plenty of time – don’t leave it until the last minute. Make sure that you get an acknowledgement letter and that the details are correct. If you don’t, it means we did not receive your application.

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