On Saturday 13 August, Chancellor Phillip Hammond announced that the treasury will guarantee EU funded projects signed before this autumn’s Chancellors Statement, even when those projects continue beyond the UK’s exit from the European Union.  This included the guarantee of Pillar 1 BPS direct payments until 2020.

The Treasury has stated it will fund all those applications signed before the Autumn Statement including those projects that continue beyond Brexit. The Autumn Statement normally is at the end of November or the beginning of December.  There is no fixed date yet.

Will applications made under RDPE that are not processed in time, for example for Countryside Stewardship or LEADER, be excluded from this guarantee?

The NFU attended a RDPE working group meeting with Defra and Defra see this ‘deadline’ as a means of encouraging applications to be made promptly and they cannot see why submitted applications would be rejected if not agreed and signed by the Autumn Statement.

Given the continuing delays with application processing, caused by long running IT problems, and the recent stall prior to the Treasury’s announcement – this is an encouraging move by the Department.  Defra need to work through the details with Treasury to secure this flexibility.  As a result, the NFU are urging prompt applications for Countryside Stewardship and LEADER.

With regards to Rural Development grant funding in future years, HM Treasury have confirmed that they will be assessing the context of agri-environment funding and they will announce this prior to the Autumn Statement.  While this does seem somewhat vague, Defra have at least hinted that they do see some form of funding put in place for the coming years prior to Brexit.

Watch this space but in the meantime get your Countryside stewardship applications in by the 30th September.

Contact your local FCG consultant or Gerard at gerardfinnan@fcgagric.com for further information.