Agriculture Minister, Edwin Poots MLA has confirmed that several changes have now been made to Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) entitlements in 2021.
These changes will “simplify” the application process for farmers and will be reflected in the Entitlements Register, which was published on January 31st, 2021.
With effect from 2021, Greening Payments will be discontinued. The Minister has reassured farmers that removing Greening Payments will not impact the overall money they receive. The percentage increase to entitlements to account for removal of Greening Payments is 43.647186%.
Although farmers will not receive a specific greening payment, the money paid out previously will be incorporated into BPS entitlements values and will be included in their main BPS payment.
Basic Payment Scheme Entitlements
Minister Poots said: “In September 2020, I announced my decision to permanently remove greening requirements for the 2021 scheme year after considering that they are not effective in delivering environmental benefits, coupled with the additional administrative burden they placed on farmers.”
“These changes have now been made and the application process has been simplified. The value of BPS entitlements will be increased by approximately 43.6% to ensure that overall payments to NI farmers remain the same.”
“However, farmers will still have to meet the minimum standards on the environment, animal and plant health, and animal welfare. Rules on Environmentally Sensitive Permanent Grassland and land eligibility are being retained.”
Calculated in sterling
Minister Poots also announced that entitlement values will now be calculated in sterling:
“With the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union last year, it no longer makes sense to calculate entitlement values in euros. Entitlement values on the Register, will now be displayed in Pounds Sterling.”
While entitlements will now be calculated and displayed in Sterling using the exchange rate of €1 = £0.89092, previous years’ entitlement values will continue to be displayed in euros.
Farmers are reminded that the online Entitlement Transfer Service will be opened from March 1st until May 4th, 2021.
