The window for trading Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish BPS entitlements is now open.
SCOTLAND
With Scotland having the earliest closing date for entitlement transfer applications (2nd April 2026) we expect interest to pick up sharply as we approach the new year. Prices at the end of the 2025 trading window are listed below. We expect trading in 2026 to pick up at a similar level.
- Region 1: £130-140
- Region 2: £30-32
- Region 3: £12
BPS in 2026 remains in the same form as 2025, with a Government review of direct payments not scheduled until 2027. 2026 will be the second year running in which you will need to have completed two parts of the Whole Farm Plan in order to claim direct payments. 2026 claims will also see enhanced greening requirements. The main change being that any holding with more than 15 ha of arable land will be required to manage Ecological Focus Areas. Cross compliance has also been updated to prohibit activities that could damage peatlands and wetland.
WALES
2026 will see the launch of the ‘Sustainable Farming Scheme’ (SFS) in Wales. This scheme is designed to replace BPS in Wales and will have completely phased out direct payments by 2029 through incremental decreases in payment rates year on year. In 2026 payment rates will be cut by 40% from the 2025 values, then by a further 20% in 2027 and again in 2028. The 2025 payment rates off of which these reductions will be based were £117.14 per hectare and an additional redistributive payment of £111.04 per hectare on the first 54 hectares.
At the time of writing the Welsh Government are yet to confirm whether entitlement trading will be able to continue during this transition period – at present it looks unlikely. A draft of ‘The Basic Payment Scheme (Tapering, Payment Entitlements and Closure) (Wales) Regulations 2025’ state that during the transition period BPS entitlement transfers will only be permitted when attached to a land transfer. The cited reasons being; to prevent speculative trading of entitlements, to ensure entitlements remain linked to genuine agricultural activity and to support scheme integrity during wind-down and transition period. This change would therefore mark the end of Welsh entitlement trading as it has been since the replacement of the Single Payment Scheme with BPS in 2015.
NORTHERN IRELAND
In 2025 the Farm Sustainability Transition Payment (FSTP) replaced BPS entitlements but functioned in effectively the same manner, with BPS entitlements being converted into FSTP entitlements. In 2026 the full Farm Sustainability Payment (FSP) will be launched as the flagship of DAERA’s wider Sustainable Agriculture Programme, with applications for the FSP open on 2nd March. As with the FSTP the FSP will work on a largely similar basis to BPS – crucially the 3 hectare eligibility requirement will not be raised. Changes include:
- Cross compliance is set to be replaced by ‘Farm Sustainability Standards’ which will support soil testing, nutrient management, carbon footprinting and participation in projects such as the Soil Nutrient Health Scheme and the Bovine Genetics Project. Failure to participate in certain projects will result in a 10% reduction in FSP payments in 2027 and further 15% reductions in every following year until the requirement is met.
- The payment structure will be based on historic reference years. Businesses that do not meet the historical years requirement will not be eligible for the FSP scheme in 2026 only and that their entitlements may be transferred only to an existing eligible farm business.
- Larger claims will face a progressive capping on payments over £60,000, which will be phased in over a two-year period. In the first year (2026) only 50% of the final capping deductions will apply. In 2027 the full capping deductions will apply. Capping levels will increase in bands based on the size of payments.
The payment rates for the FSP are yet to be specified. Until these rates are confirmed it is difficult to predict where trading will begin in the new year.