llamedos
New Member
Double Funding and Environmental Stewardship
agreements [Revised September 2014]
This briefing and Q&A sets out how the risk of double-funding between greening and
Environmental Stewardship agreements will be addressed. Defra Ministers have been mindful
of the assurances given at the start of the CAP Reform negotiations that farmers who had been
ahead of the game on environmental delivery should not be disadvantaged by greening. They
have succeeded in securing an outcome that fulfils that commitment.
In summary: all appropriate ELS/OELS options can be used to meet Ecological Focus Area
(EFA) requirements under greening, provided they meet the relevant EFA requirements and the
ELS option requirements. Some ELS/OELS agreements will have the payment for certain
options reduced where there is a risk of double-funding. This payment reduction will be applied
regardless of whether the farmer uses the affected option to meet EFA requirements or not.
• 90% of Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) and all Higher Level Stewardship (HLS)
agreements will not have to have their payments adjusted for greening.
• However, around 4,000 ELS agreements (including Organic ELS) which started on 1
January 2012 or later could have their payments reduced where they include ‘double funded’
options (the complete list of these options is at Q11 below).
• Where double-funded options are present in ELS agreements which started on or after 1
January 2012 you will be able to do the following:
o If you are delivering options in your agreement above your ELS points threshold (for
which you are not being currently paid), you may have enough ‘surplus’ options in place
for your payments to be unaffected by double funding – i.e. after the greening reduction is
made you can still receive your full ELS payment. In this case, you need take no action.
o If you do not have ‘surplus’ options in place, and are therefore faced with an ELS
payment reduction, your choices are:
1. accept the reduced payment; or
2. amend your agreement to include options which contribute towards your 30 points
per ha threshold and avoid any reduction in payment; or
3. exit the scheme without penalty or recovery of payments.
• Natural England will be writing to all agreement holders who may be affected in the early
autumn, setting out the choices available. If your payment has to be reduced, you have until
15 November 2014 to tell Natural England whether you want to do 1, 2 or 3 above. If Natural
England does not hear from you by then, it will assume you are content to accept the
reduced payment. This approach meets Defra Ministers’ commitments, while minimising the
risk of EU fines (disallowance) and keeping administrative costs to a minimum. It also gives
affected agreement holders a wide range of choices
We have to ensure that the new environmental land management scheme similarly avoids
the risk of double funding. We will provide further details over the next few months.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...unding-greening-and-environmental-stewardship
agreements [Revised September 2014]
This briefing and Q&A sets out how the risk of double-funding between greening and
Environmental Stewardship agreements will be addressed. Defra Ministers have been mindful
of the assurances given at the start of the CAP Reform negotiations that farmers who had been
ahead of the game on environmental delivery should not be disadvantaged by greening. They
have succeeded in securing an outcome that fulfils that commitment.
In summary: all appropriate ELS/OELS options can be used to meet Ecological Focus Area
(EFA) requirements under greening, provided they meet the relevant EFA requirements and the
ELS option requirements. Some ELS/OELS agreements will have the payment for certain
options reduced where there is a risk of double-funding. This payment reduction will be applied
regardless of whether the farmer uses the affected option to meet EFA requirements or not.
• 90% of Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) and all Higher Level Stewardship (HLS)
agreements will not have to have their payments adjusted for greening.
• However, around 4,000 ELS agreements (including Organic ELS) which started on 1
January 2012 or later could have their payments reduced where they include ‘double funded’
options (the complete list of these options is at Q11 below).
• Where double-funded options are present in ELS agreements which started on or after 1
January 2012 you will be able to do the following:
o If you are delivering options in your agreement above your ELS points threshold (for
which you are not being currently paid), you may have enough ‘surplus’ options in place
for your payments to be unaffected by double funding – i.e. after the greening reduction is
made you can still receive your full ELS payment. In this case, you need take no action.
o If you do not have ‘surplus’ options in place, and are therefore faced with an ELS
payment reduction, your choices are:
1. accept the reduced payment; or
2. amend your agreement to include options which contribute towards your 30 points
per ha threshold and avoid any reduction in payment; or
3. exit the scheme without penalty or recovery of payments.
• Natural England will be writing to all agreement holders who may be affected in the early
autumn, setting out the choices available. If your payment has to be reduced, you have until
15 November 2014 to tell Natural England whether you want to do 1, 2 or 3 above. If Natural
England does not hear from you by then, it will assume you are content to accept the
reduced payment. This approach meets Defra Ministers’ commitments, while minimising the
risk of EU fines (disallowance) and keeping administrative costs to a minimum. It also gives
affected agreement holders a wide range of choices
We have to ensure that the new environmental land management scheme similarly avoids
the risk of double funding. We will provide further details over the next few months.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...unding-greening-and-environmental-stewardship
