Farmers urged to return Higher Level Stewardship Agreements by month end

Farmers who have been offered a Higher Level Stewardship agreement, but have not yet returned a signed declaration, are being reminded that they must get completed paperwork back to Natural England before the 31st May if they are to obtain a 1st June ’start date’ for their agreement.

Natural England is advising farmers who have already been offered HLS agreements, but who may not have decided whether to join the scheme or are sitting on the paperwork, that it is in their interests to return their signed declarations before the end of May.

As the result of an audit by the European Commission of England’s agri-environment schemes, Defra announced in November that there would be changes to the timing of when farmers receive payments for Environmental Stewardship scheme agreements. Time is running out for farmers who have not yet returned a signed HLS agreement if they want it to start on 1 June. The revised payment schedule for ES schemes will mean that new agreement holders with start dates later than 1 June 2011 will not start receiving payments until the second half of next year.

The changes only affect the time of year that ES agreement holders will receive their payments. The size of the payments, and the total amount farmers are due to receive during the life of their agreements, is not affected. Payments for capital works and Farm Environment Plans (FEPs) are also unaffected.

Defra and Natural England have worked closely with farmers and industry leaders, including the NFU and CLA, to try to minimise the impact on farmers’ businesses. The changes to payment schedules are being implemented in the second half of this year to give agreement holders time to prepare for any impact on their cash flow.

Natural England has been very mindful of the importance of keeping current agreement holders fully informed about these changes. We wrote to all those affected in July and November last year and again this March to alert them to the changes and explain them in more detail.