England and Scotland rethink 2018 BPS active farmer test

The active farmer test will not be applied to 2018 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) claims in England – saving some applicants time and money.

Meanwhile, Scotland has also announced a significant relaxation in its active farmer rules by removing the principle of the negative list.

Both decisions are designed to reduce some of the bureaucracy surrounding the process of making a BPS application.

See also: Active farmer rules explained

Defra has confirmed that farmers in England will “no longer need to meet the ‘active farmer’ requirement under BPS for 2018 onwards”.

Negative List

Until now, one of the key tests for whether a farmer was eligible or not to claim BPS was whether they carried out any activities that fell into the so-called “negative” list.

The negative list covered non-agricultural activities such as airports, railway services, water treatment works, real-estate services or permanent sport and recreational grounds.

Farmers who carried out any of the activities on the negative list could establish they were an active farmer and make a claim for direct payments – but only if they met certain criteria for ‘readmission’ back into the scheme.

Readmissions route

Townsend Chartered Surveyors, based in Exeter, said dropping the active farmer rule would remove a claimant’s need to pursue this readmissions route, which typically involved paying for an accountant’s certificate to prove the business putting in the application was also farming.

However, it also meant that certain claimants that were previously excluded, such as water utility companies, will now be eligible to make a BPS claim in 2018.

“This has the potential to increase the number of BPS applications this year and also affect the entitlement trading market as previously excluded applicants will now return to the market creating a greater demand than supply.”

‘Excessive administration’

Announcing the removal of the negative list in Scotland, rural affairs secretary Fergus Ewing pointed out that it was a positive move.

“I have made no secret of my belief that current CAP rules are too prescriptive, often place excessive administrative burdens on our farmers, and do not allow for enough flexibility at a local level,” he said.

Safeguards

But Mr Ewing promised that in Scotland, safeguards would continue to be in place to ensure funds went to active farmers.

All businesses making a claim for BPS ‎in Scotland will still have to adhere to the minimum activity requirements, which remain unchanged.

NFU Scotland president Andrew McCornick said the removal of the negative list would be complicated, as it had been an effective tool for ensuring non-agricultural businesses were not eligible for direct support. “With the removal of the negative list, it is the hope of the union that this is the first step towards more effective measures of ‘agricultural activity’ and a switch from the area-based CAP payments to a new activity-based approach.”

Payment agencies

Despite the announcements, the payment agencies in Scotland and England have both warned that a question about active farmer status will continue to appear on the 2018 BPS application form because it is now too late to remove it from the IT systems.

However, while the box will need to be completed, the answer will not be assessed as part of the application.

A decision has already been announced in Northern Ireland that the active farmer question will not be applied from the 2018 scheme year, although the requirement to be an active farmer still stands.

It has not yet been confirmed whether a decision has been taken to drop the active farmer rule in Wales.