NFU raises 'serious concerns' over eligibility for Countryside Stewardship bridging payments

Solving the problem for a select few agreement holders and ignoring those in others is "not acceptable", the NFU has said
Solving the problem for a select few agreement holders and ignoring those in others is "not acceptable", the NFU has said

The NFU has criticised Defra for announcing that farmers with a 2017 Countryside Stewardship Mid-Tier agreement will receive bridging payments, leaving the majority of agreement holders in the dark.

Farmers and land managers with a 2017 Countryside Stewardship (CS) Mid-Tier agreement will receive a bridging payment for 75% of the current estimated value of their claim.

Agri-environment schemes provide financial incentives for farmers and landowners to look after their environment through activities, such as conserving wildlife habitats and flood risk management.

But thousands of farmers and land managers still await payments for their work.

In a statement, Defra has today (20 June) announced bridging payments are being made to "ensure that the remaining 18% of farmers and land managers waiting for payment are not left out of pocket for the work and time they have invested".

The NFU has welcomed Defra’s announcement, but says all farmers in agri-environment schemes – be it the Higher Level Stewardship (HLS), Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) and CS Higher-Tier or Mid-Tier – who are owed payment should be eligible for bridging payments.

The announcement from Defra comes shortly after a strong call from NFU Council yesterday (19 June), which made the case for bridging payments for all schemes to the value of 75% of the annual payment.

In addition, the NFU joined with CLA and TFA in sending a letter to Defra Secretary Michael Gove making the case.

'Not acceptable'

NFU Deputy President, Guy Smith said that solving the problem for a select few agreement holders and ignoring those in other HLS, ELS and CS Higher-Tier, is "not acceptable".

“Agreement holders of any sort that are left waiting for payment should be eligible for a bridging payment,” Mr Smith said.

“The principle is rather simple: if Defra accept the case that it’s not acceptable to expect agreement holders to wait any longer for money owed then that clearly applies to all those waiting not just a minority.

“We haven’t yet had any clarification on how they are going to deliver these bridging payments but what we hope to see is extra resource going in to Natural England to support this work. If we don’t see extra resource then I can’t foresee any decent progress being made in delivering the outstanding 25% of payment to agreement holders,” Mr Smith added.

The NFU has called for a "long-term fix" in the administration of the scheme, and said it awaits news from Defra on establishing a rollover option for scheme renewals.