24.01.2019 – UK BPS ENTITLEMENT TRADING UPDATE

ENGLAND

Since Christmas, the UK entitlement market has remained reasonably quiet, however interest is building and we are continuing to get expressions of interest from fairly large buyers, as well as the usual mid-small buyers, and also from some businesses who can claim again now the active farmer restrictions and negative list have been removed. The most recent sales agreed were at £150 plus VAT for a large lot for Non-SDA, and £200 plus VAT for SDA.

The RPA online transfer facility has now gone live, and so sales agreed can be completed within a week, subject to both parties dealing with their paperwork promptly, and the transfer being processed correctly by the RPA computer. The deadline for submitting an entitlement transfer application is 15^th May.

SCOTLAND

The market is beginning to warm up, with the much earlier deadline of 2^nd April for SGRPID to receive the paper transfer forms.  Region 1 entitlements are trading at around 0.9 to 1 x face value including greening (£190-220 plus VAT/ha), Region 2 with a similar multiplier (£30-35 plus VAT/ha) and Region 3 (£11-13 plus VAT/ha).

The RPID has confirmed in writing that, although the 30% siphon will be applied to the BPS element of any entitlements transferred, and confirmation letters will show this reduction, sometime before the 2019 claims are processed all entitlements for each region will be converted to the appropriate Flat Rate, so in effect the siphon will be cancelled.

Please see here the article on how the BPS payments work in Scotland for further information.

WALES

As yet trade is quiet for Welsh entitlements, which are all classified as the same region, and which also will be paid at a Flat Rate in 2019, however interest is expected to rise shortly.  The deadline for submitting a transfer application in Wales is 30^th April.

If you are interested in buying or selling entitlements for 2019, please contact Julia Clark.