The application window for the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and the claim window for existing Countryside Stewardship (CS) revenue and Environmental Stewardship (ES) agreements has opened today, Tuesday 14th March 2023. The deadline for BPS applications without penalties is midnight on the 15th May 2023.
The advance payments introduced last year to help farmers with cashflow are to be repeated, with 50% of the total to be paid from the start of August 2023.
BPS payments are continuing to be phased out until 2027, with this year’s application being the final submission as we know it. Government plans involve replacing the direct payments with delinked payments, based on a farmer’s average BPS payment for the 2020 to 2022 scheme years. Farmers must claim and be eligible for BPS payments in the 2023 scheme year to receive delinked payments for 2024 to 2027.
We will be contacting all our existing BPS clients to process their claims in the coming weeks. If you are a new client looking for advice on how BPS is changing or help with submitting your 2023 application, please contact the JA Agriculture team.
