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Uplands Entry Level Stewardship - Expect Cashflow Disruption
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08/03/2010 |
Uplands Entry Level Stewardship - Expect Cashflow Disruption |
“Farmers face a race against time to minimise disruption to their cash flow,” says Andrew Pinny of George F White. “With the final payment of the Hill Farm Allowance (HFA) being next month, farmers and Landowners must plan ahead for entry into the replacement Uplands Entry Level Stewardship (UELS) scheme. This means submitting applications no later than 1st May 2010 to minimise disruption to farm cashflow.”
“The UELS is a complete change from the HFA - a social based payment to upland farmers to keep stock in the hills, to an environment based subsidy. We think that this new system may cause some management issues for some hill farmers wishing to claim via this new scheme,” he continues.
George F. White hoped that farmers would have been able to apply for UELS application packs from 1st January; however Natural England is only now in a position to start and send out application packs. Natural England envisage that the first agreements will begin from 1st July 2010, but for this to happen a completed application pack must be submitted no later then 1st May 2010. With Spring being one of the busiest periods in the farming calendar, it will be a challenging time for farmers.
With the payment system changing from one lump HFA payment in the Spring to a sixth monthly in arrears payment under UELS, Andrew says, “with a change of payment procedure there is going to undoubtedly be disruption to cashflows, but this can be minimized by applying for UELS at the earliest opportunity”
UELS will reward farmers for the delivery of landscape and environmental benefits in a similar way to the existing Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) and like ELS will be a five-year agreement on a points based system. The payment rates are:
• £32 per hectare (£13 per acre) for SDA land
• £15 per hectare (£6 per acre) for SDA Moorland.
This will be in addition to the Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) payments (£30/ha SDA and £8/ha SDA Moorland). Applicants to UELS will need to either be in an existing ELS agreement (which will restart) or enter ELS at the same time.
Farmers and land owners with land still in Countryside Stewardship (CSS) or Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) agreements can apply for a transitional payment (similar to the HFA) until their agreement ends. This will be applied for annually via the single payment scheme form.
For further information on the scheme please contact Andrew Pinny at the Alnwick office of George F. White on Tel. 01665 603231.
George F. White has offices in Alnwick and Tyne Valley in Northumberland, Wolsingham and Barnard Castle in County Durham, Bedale in North Yorkshire, Shiptonthorpe near York and Park Lane in London
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