Upland ELS blow to short term holders of land

The Tenant Farmers Association will not be welcoming Natural England’s new Uplands Entry-Level Scheme (ELS) with open arms when it is launched this week due to the implications for hill farmers on short term land occupancy agreements and for those whose landlords already participate in ELS.

Natural England is due to launch Uplands ELS on Tuesday (09 February) to replace the existing Hill Farm Allowance (HFA) scheme which, following TFA lobbying, was given one more year than planned in order to resolve the difficulties that would be faced by some tenants and other land users in hill areas in the transition to the new arrangements.

TFA Chief Executive George Dunn said "Despite DEFRA Secretary of State, Hilary Benn, giving his officials and Natural England staff an extra year to look at and resolve the tenancy issues we raised, it is disappointing to report that nothing has changed from the original proposal. In the end the Government was resolutely opposed to any changes to the scheme even though there was cross industry consensus expressed through the Tenancy Reform Industry Group that changes to the scheme were needed".

Whilst HFA has been payable to claimants with land available to them for grazing on an annual basis, Uplands ELS will only be available to those who have ’management control’ of the same land for a period of at least five years. This will have implications for individuals on short-term agreements or where it is envisaged that existing tenancy agreements will be ended within five years of now. Also, where landowners claim ELS or Uplands ELS payments themselves, the farmer will be ineligible to participate in the new scheme.

"In view of the new eligibility criteria some HFA claimants who farm other people’s land will find themselves ineligible to enter Uplands ELS unless timely discussions are held between them and the owners of the land and practical solutions are found to alter land occupation arrangements or tenancy terms. However, time is short and action must be taken now," said Mr Dunn.

In the face of Government inaction the Tenancy Reform Industry Group (TRIG) has produced a detailed guidance note which will be essential reading for those affected in the following situations:

• Agricultural tenancies with less than five years to run

• Tenancies involving public bodies as landlords

• Tenancies where the landlord is already an ELS or other scheme agreement holder on the let land

• Grazing licences

• Grazing licences where the ELS applicant is the licensor (owner or tenant)

• Grazing licences involving public bodies as landlords

"Previous HFA claimants who fall in any of these categories must read the TRIG guidance which will be available on the TFA website from the middle of this week and then seek an urgent meeting with their landlord to plan the way ahead," said Mr Dunn.