Frustrated farmer denied new, higher CS payments

A dairy farmer who applied for Countryside Stewardship (CS) funding for hedgerow management has been paid under the old rate – despite Defra’s promise of an uplift in payment rates for farmers.

David Brookes, who farms in Lower Loxley, near Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, submitted a claim totalling £3,089 under the CS Capital Grants scheme in January.

See also: OFC 2023: Defra to pay more for SFI and Countryside Stewardship

This included £2,585 for option BN5 hedgerow laying and £504 for option BN6 hedgerow coppicing, for old, mature hedges.

His farm consultant, Chris Seabridge, has told him Defra should have paid him under the new CS payment rates, which were announced on 5 January and backdated to those with agreements that started from 1 January 2023.

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) paid Mr Brookes under the old payment rates and he says he should have been paid £13.52/m for option BN5 (not £9.40/m) and £5.33/m for BN6 (not £4/m).

Mr Seabridge contacted the RPA and was told the underpayment was “due to a system error they are working to correct” and the balance would be met when the upgrade had been implemented.

He estimates the agency owes his client £1,133 – but is he still waiting to receive the balance.

Mr Brookes plans to submit a much bigger claim for hedge laying, coppicing old hedging and replanting later this spring.

But the underpayment does not instil confidence that he will be paid correctly.

“The government has taken all this Basic Payment money off farmers and is telling us we should be making these claims for environmental improvements, which is all well and good, but the civil servants aren’t up to the job of delivering,” he said.

“Defra and Natural England have got a bucket full of money, but they cannot get it out the door.”

Mr Brookes has written to his local MP Kate Kniveton, who is Conservative MP for Burton, and asked her to investigate the matter urgently. He believes other farmers will be similarly affected.

A Rural Payments Agency spokesperson said:  “We recognise the importance of these payments to farmers’ livelihoods. That’s why we listened to the sector and updated our payment rates for Countryside Stewardship capital grants scheme by an average of 48%, starting from 1 January 2023.

“As we have been updating our systems to reflect this increase, we have been making payments at the previous rate to make sure nobody misses out – and will be making top-up payments in the coming weeks to reflect the new rates.”

Are you a farmer or landowner with a CS agreement who has been underpaid by the RPA? Get in touch with philip.case@markallengroup.com.