The claim windows for existing Countryside Stewardship and Environmental Stewardship agreements are now open for farmers to apply to.
Farmers are being advised to submit an annual declaration or claim before 15 May, with the final deadline to submit a claim with a reduction on 2 September.
Before submitting, the Rural Payment Agency (RPA) says farmers should check that the land use codes recorded for the land parcels are correct and consistent with the claim.
The RPA will be applying more proportionate late claim reductions to claims received between 15 May and 2 September. The reduction will be scaled according to how late the claim is.
Responding, the NFU said farmers must submit their revenue claims for CS and ES agreements as soon as possible.
Deputy president, David Exwood said: “With many farmers continuing to face a cash-flow crisis, meeting this deadline will be important to avoid any reduction and ensure claims can be processed and payments made on time.”
The RPA has also put out a reminder for those wanting to transfer all or some of their ‘reference amount’ for delinked payments to another business, that they must do so by 10 May.
The transfer window for delinked payments went live on 15 February.
This will be the only opportunity for a business to transfer reference values from one business to another, while in cases of inheritance, a transfer can take place until 2027.
RPA chief executive Paul Caldwell said: “I know how important cashflow is to rural businesses, which is why we will continue processing claims as quickly as possible to get payments into farmers’ bank accounts.”
