Agricultural grant schemes in England have undergone some sudden changes over the past few months, with both the Capital Grants Scheme and SFI24 being closed without forewarning. Below is a roundup of the latest updates for each major grant scheme in England.
Capital Grants Scheme
Following the sudden closure of Capital Grants in November 2024, it is welcome news that the standalone ELM Capital Grants Scheme will re-open in the summer, worth around £45 million in 2025/26.
The Rural Payments Agency is now processing the remaining 4,000 applications held when the scheme paused. These agreements will be worth £120 million over their lifetime.
Financial caps will be applied to new applications to the Capital Grants Scheme, with limits set on how much you can apply for in each of the 4 categories. The new limits will be:
- £25,000 for water quality
- £25,000 for air quality
- £25,000 for natural flood management
- £35,000 for boundaries, trees and orchards
The cap does not apply to capital plans.
You will be able to apply for a grant in more than one category, but only one application per Single Business Identifier (SBI) will be able to be submitted per year.
Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI)
Defra has announced that, from 11th March, it has stopped accepting new applications for the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) scheme. Details of a revised SFI scheme will be announced in summer 2025, with a budget to be confirmed in the Spending Review. Defra will continue to engage closely with stakeholders while the scheme is reviewed to ensure the process is transparent.
So, what does this mean for you?
If you have an SFI agreement – Nothing changes. You will continue to receive payments as normal under the terms of your agreement. In many cases, this will continue until their end date (latest 2028).
If you’ve been offered an agreement but haven’t yet accepted – You need to accept your SFI agreement offer within 10 working days of it being offered (as explained in the agreement offer letter).
If you submitted an SFI application but have not yet received an offer – You will be offered an agreement, provided your application is eligible.
If you started an SFI application but did not submit it before applications closed – You will not be able to submit your application. The only exceptions to this are a small group of farmers who were blocked from submitting their applications due to a system fault or had requested ‘assisted digital’ support from the RPA to apply, and ex-SFI Pilot farmers whose Pilot agreement has already ended, but they haven’t applied for the full SFI 2024 offer on land which was in their Pilot agreement.
SFI Pilot agreements – If you are in the SFI Pilot, you will be able to apply for an SFI agreement for the expanded SFI offer when your pilot agreement ends.
If you were in the Pilot and your agreement has ended already but you haven’t submitted an application for the expanded SFI offer yet, you will be able to apply. The RPA will be in touch to let you know how to do this, but please note that you will only be able to apply on the same land that was in the Pilot.
For further advice or help with applying for an SFI agreement, please contact our Stewardship & Grants team on 01981 590514.
Endorsed actions
Farmers and land managers were able to apply for one endorsed SFI action in the expanded SFI offer (GRH6: Manage priority habitat species-rich grassland).
When Defra published drafts of an additional 14 endorsed SFI actions in December, it was expected that these additional actions would be available from summer 2025. These will now be considered as part of the work to develop a reformed and more targeted SFI.
HLS (Higher Level Scheme) payments
Defra have confirmed that HLS agreement holders will see an increase in their scheme payments from the 2025 claim year.
All HLS agreement holders will be eligible, but the change to payment rates will depend on the options contained in the actual agreement. If you have an option with a payment rate that is increasing, the new rate will be paid as part of your usual claim payment from December 2025.
Defra is expected to publish a table showing the updated payment rates for each HLS option soon and will be writing to HLS agreement holders by April to explain the new rates and what they mean for them.
CS Higher Tier
- What’s available for farmers and land managers
- 132 management actions and 151 capital items
- Quarterly payments to improve cash flow
- Monthly agreement start-dates rather than singular annual start-date
- Online application process and payments through Rural Payments Agency
Controlled roll-out & pre-application advice
Currently, access to the scheme is by invitation only as Defra continue to test the pre-application process. However, there will be opportunities for other farmers and land managers to access CSHT in the future.
Natural England will initially focus on working with customers with expiring agri-environment or mixed agreements expiring in 2025, applicants who have completed preparatory work, and have approved plans such as an implementation plan. This will be done through pre-application visits in readiness for the first applications in summer 2025.
Natural England and Forestry Commission will be working together with invited farmers and land managers to offer this pre-application advice, which must be secured before making an application. This advice ensures that your application is well-prepared, meets the necessary requirements and has the best chance of success. It is an essential requirement towards being able to make an application later in the year. Defra have provided an overview of the process and held a webinar.
To ensure you get the most out of pre-application advice, you should consider what beneficial management you would like on your land and use the relevant scheme guidance on GOV.UK. If you want to manage woodland through CSHT, you’ll need to complete a Woodland management plan as a first step.
If you are not able to enter CSHT straightaway, you can still take steps to prepare, including applying for capital grants to help you prepare plans to support a CSHT application. For example, grants are available for an implementation plan, woodland management plan, agroforestry plan, species management plan or a feasibility study, as well as a Moorland Mapping tool.
Defra will confirm details on the further rollout of CSHT, including the next priority groups to be invited, in the summer.
The guidance on GOV.UK sets out what you can do now to prepare to apply and what funding will be available.
The Forestry Commission recently held a webinar for woodland applicants preparing for CSHT.
Further help & advice
If you have any concerns about how these changes affect you or would like to discuss your options, please contact our Stewardship & Grants team on 01981 590514.