Tom,

My understanding of your issue is that you do need to fill in box C13 ‘ELS/OELS rotational option’ if you are going to have ELS/OELS over-wintered stubbles (EF6/OF6), or any other ELS rotational options, on that land parcel. Your 2007 Single Payment SP5 claim form contains information from 1 Jan 2007 to 31 Dec 2007. When filling in the ‘land use in 2007’ box (C8) it must record what is planted in the land on the 15 May 2007. Therefore your over-wintered stubble will follow your 2007 harvest and remain in place over the 2007/2008 winter. 

However I suggest that you refer to the guidance from the link below or contact the RPA on the 0845 6037777.

http://www.rpa.gov.uk/rpa/index.nsf/vContentByTaxonomy/892EF942359CC2578025728E0040ACB5?OpenDocument

Rachel

It is however highly unlikely that one knows where they will be putting there overwintered 2007/8 stubble on the 15th May2007 surely.

Geoff

If you refer to page 22 of the Single Payment Scheme Handbook and Guidance for England, Supplement for 2007 box C13 refers to the ELS rotational option question. It states ‘Cross the box in C13 for any field that is being used this year for a rotational option’.

My understanding of this is that over-wintered stubble follows the crop that is in the ground, as of the 15^th May 2007 i.e. this year, and does not come before it. Therefore you should mark the fields that you are going to have your ELS/OELS over-wintered stubble in this coming autumn/winter

Rachel

On page 22 of the SPS handbook and guidance supplement for 2007 it says at the bottom of the page about the C13 (ELS rotational options) - We only need to know the rotational options highlighted.

Where are these highlighted options?

Tom,

I was wondering exactly the same thing - I was also interested to see that in the 2007 update of the setaside book it states that "guidance on how insurance setaside should be recorded on your SP5 form will be given in the SPS handbook 2007 supplement when published". I looked in the new handbook which refers you back to the setaside guide - what a load of jokers!!

Regards

Geoff

Tom,

The rotational options that need to be marked in box C13 are highlighted on page 67, paragraph N32 of the ‘Single Payment Scheme Handbook and Guidance for England 2006’. A link to which is 

http://www.rpa.gov.uk/rpa/index.nsf/15f3e119d8abcb5480256ef20049b53a/29723f07882706488025712c0041199d/$FILE/SPS Handbook and Guidance for England 2006 edition.pdf

The current Handbook and Guidance is only a supplement for 2007 therefore you may need to refer back to the 2006 handbook for additional information.

Geoff,

How to record ‘insurance’ set-aside land on your SP5 forms is found at the end of page 45 of the Single Payment Scheme Handbook and Guidance for England Supplement for 2007. It states ‘You should only code enough set-aside land to activate your set-aside entitlements. Any additional ‘insurance’ set-aside should be coded OT2.’

If you have any further queries about coding of set-aside on your SP5 form then do contact the RPA helpline on 0845 6037777.

Thanks Rachel,

I stand corrected but it is a shame the editor of the guides cannot make these points clearer and refer you to the relevant pages - would make it all a lot simpler and quicker and prevent their helplines being inundated with calls -but I suppose that is asking too much!!

On the point of insurance set aside, I think it is important to send a covering letter saying that land you have entered as OT2 is to be classed as setaside if that is the intention, to make certain the RPA have it logged as such and prevent problems if you were unlucky enough to have an inspection.

I also was told by the RPA helpline that overwintered stubble refers to winter 2006 rather than 2007, so it may be worth putting a note in a letter to highlight which method has been used - I imagine they are going to have 50% replies with 2006 and 50% 2007!!!

Geoff