Financial Discipline 2013

The rate of financial discipline looks set to be lower than the initial 4.98% proposed.  Back in April we reported that the EU Commission looked set to reduce all 2013 Single Payments by nearly 5% to ensure that the CAP budget limit was not exceeded.  (A quirk of the system means that the 2013 SPS is paid out of the 2014 EU budget; which is first year of the new, lower, settlement under the 2014-2020 MFF).  It now seems likely that the cut will be nearer 4%.  This is because it has been decided to reduce the threshold from where the deduction applies from the existing €5,000 to €2,000.  The lower starting point means that the percentage cut can be smaller.  The precise figure will be agreed before the 1^st December.  We have not published adjusted SPS estimates for 2013 as we will wait until we know the final English regional payment rates for 2013 which should be published shortly.