Defra have confirmed that the majority of advance BPS payments will have been made by the end of July. For the remaining claims that require additional checks, payments are expected to be made by the end of August. If Defra have been unable to pay recipients by this time, they will be in contact with the individual claimants to explain why.
This follows Defra’s announcement in May, that as an advance injection of cash, farmers with eligible BPS applications would receive their first payment of 50% from the end of July, and the second from December. Under these plans, direct payments in England will be paid in two instalments each year for the remainder of the agricultural transition period.
Free business advice
Any farmer or land manager who receives BPS in England is eligible for free business advice during the early years of the agricultural transition. This is provided by a range of organisations who are awarded grants by the Future Farming Resilience Fund. These organisations work with farmers and land managers to help them understand how the changes to farming will affect their businesses and help them plan for the future.
Different advice providers offer different kinds of support in different sectors. Many of them offer 1-to-1 consultations and farm visits, followed up by recommendations in a report. Others provide workshops, webinars, tours, and networking opportunities to help farmers get support from other farmers.
This support is being offered in phases and the current ‘interim phase’ of support closes at the end of August. The next and final phase of support (which has been scaled up) will open in October. £32 million has been awarded to 17 organisations to support up to 32,000 farmers and land managers from October 2022 until March 2025.
Before the next phase opens in October, a list of the advice providers will be published with the areas they cover, the type of support available and full contact details.
Find out more at Get free business advice for your farm – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
