Slowly but surely farmers are being invited to register on the new online rural payments service and for those farmers with a computer and email address the procedure should be reasonably straightforward, however many have experienced complications.
The service is currently very limited, so those who have managed to register can, at the moment, do little more than check their business and land parcel details and authorise their agents. However it is expected that later this month or more likely in February, ‘young’ and ‘new’ farmers will be able to apply for new entitlements from the national reserve.
Applying for entitlements
As well as applying on the online service, applicants must send the RPA a ‘certification form’ to prove their status as a ‘young’ or ‘new’ farmer. The deadline for applications is 15th May. If the application is successful the RPA will then allocate the farmer enough entitlements to make their total number of entitlements the same as the number of hectares of eligible land they declare on their BPS claim. The farmer will not find out whether their application has been successful until after 15th May by which time it will be too late to buy entitlements which is a less than ideal situation.
To qualify as a ‘young farmer’ in 2015 an active farmer must be between the ages of 18 and 40 (not turning 41 during 2015) and must have taken ‘control’ of their holding in the last five years. To qualify as a ‘new farmer’ in 2015, one must have started or taken over a farming business in 2013 or later, and must not have carried out any agricultural business activity at one’s own risk in the preceding five years.
Documents must be taken to an independent solicitor or accountant that prove the applicant is ‘in control’ of their business (i.e. directly exposed to personal financial benefit or harm resulting from the success or failure of the business), the date they took control of the business, and their date of birth.
For a sole trader the sort of documents that might be required would include title deeds showing the applicant owns the land or a tenancy agreement showing they lease the land, together with the date they took on the land; a VAT registration certificate or income tax return in their name showing the date of registration; evidence of inheritance showing the date, a business bank account statement naming them as the account holder and showing the date the account was set up; and annual business accounts naming them as a beneficiary and showing the date they were first produced.
For partnerships the sort of documents that could be required would include a partnership agreement showing the partners and percentage shares/roles held together with the date it was agreed, agreements showing business shareholdings and the date the business shareholding was set up, partnership accounts demonstrating ownership and the date they were set up, and annual accounts naming the applicant, number of shares/votes held and the date they were first produced.
For limited companies a legally effective document demonstrating business shareholding and the date they took control could be required.
All applicants can use a passport, birth certificate or driving licence to show their date of birth.
The independent solicitor must fill in and sign the ‘certification form’ as proof that they have seen the documents and confirm the information in them. The signed form must then be sent to the RPA.
The young farmer payment
Young farmers may also use the certification form to support an application for the young farmer payment. This is a ‘top up’ payment of up to 25% of the average value of a young farmer’s entitlements on up to a maximum of 90 entitlements. This can be used on entitlements already held or those acquired from the national reserve using the above route. This payment can be claimed for up to 5 years after the year they took over control of the business. Applications must be made each year as part of their BPS claim.
More details will follow.
