The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has confirmed that 97% of farmers have received their final BPS payment as the government moves to delinked payments in 2024.
The announcement means that £525 million has been released to farming businesses following advance payments made in August this year to help farmers with their cashflow.
Over 91,000 applications and claims have been completed across the BPS, Countryside Stewardship (CS) revenue and Environmental Stewardship (ES) schemes.
The RPA confirmed that £70 million under the ES scheme will be issued in the next few days.
All eligible farmers should receive their final payments payment before the end of the payment window on 30 June 2024, the agency said.
It added that it was working to complete checks and to pay the remainder as promptly as possible, but some claims could take longer to complete.
The announcement precedes the move to delinked payments, which is part of the UK's agricultural transition plan moving away from the EU’s CAP support model.
Delinked payments are due to replace the BPS in England in 2024 and will run until the end of 2027.
They will be based on the average BPS payment made to a farming business for the 2020 to 2022 scheme years.
When payments are delinked, recipients won’t have to farm the land to receive the payments.
Announcing today's BPS payment news, RPA chief executive Paul Caldwell: "This year farmers and rural businesses have continued to face a number of challenges.
"That’s why the RPA has been working hard to improve cash flow and make sure farmers receive their final BPS payments as quickly as possible.
"Delinked payments will provide financial support over the next four years as we encourage farmers and land managers to enter our environmental land management schemes."
The RPA also announced that it had acted on feedback to support farmers' cashflow by releasing Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) payments early.
Farmers who have a live SFI 2023 agreement before the end of this year will receive an accelerated payment worth 25% of the annual value of their agreement in the first month of their agreement.
Around 850 farmers whose agreements started in October and November have now received their early payment, with a total £2.8m paid, the RPA said.
Those whose agreements started on 1 December are set to receive their payment in the coming days.
