Welsh BPS Guidance July 17, 2014 12:00 am The Welsh Government has published a guidance booklet on how the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) will operate in Wales. It provides a little more information (although not much) in addition to the announcement made at the start of the month. It is being sent out to all farmers along with a note of the payment regions their land falls into. The full document can be found at – http://wales.gov.uk/topics/environmentcountryside/farmingandcountryside/farming/schemes/basic-payment-scheme/guidance/?lang=en. The additional information mostly relates to timings for the transition to the BPS; August – existing claimants will have to supply their National Insurance numbers from August through to 31st October 2014 – the WG is informing farmers which land it considers ‘Arable’ on their holdings. Claimants will have until the end of October to submit a Field Maintenance form to notify whether any of the eligible EFA features currently exist on their land (fallow, hedges, stone walls, SRC, afforested land, nitrogen-fixing crops). 3rd November 2014 – the entitlement application process will start. This includes the National Reserve and also an ‘expression of interest’ for those wishing to claim the Young Farmers Scheme (YFS). The guidance states that to claim this additional support it will be necessary to have a new Customer Reference Number (CRN) – i.e. the young farmer cannot just take over an existing business. 16th February 2015 – online applications will open. Paper forms will be available a month later.
