How to use these notes and complete your application
The steps you need to take to complete your application.
If you want us to acknowledge your claim with a proof of receipt, please tick the box. We do not automatically acknowledge receipt of claim forms.
The cover letter states that if you have recently submitted a request for a change to your agreement which is still being processed, the pre-printed details in Annex 1 and 2 may not take your change into account. If this is a mapping change that has been notified to us by an RLE1 form, and the changes are not reflected in Annex 1 and 2, please draw our attention to this by making a note in Section 4 to explain what the changes are. The data in Sections 1 and 2 is prepopulated.
If it is incorrect:
- for Section 1, please contact us
- for Section 2, please enter revised details in the box below.
This relates to the current cropping year, that is the *cropping year from autumn 2020 to harvest 2021, except for options involving over-wintered stubbles (please see the paragraph). Annex 1 to this guidance note gives a list of options and timings.
Over-wintered stubble options - Options that include over-wintered stubble come later in the year, after the arable crop has been harvested. The information that we need for these options relates to their location for autumn/winter 2021/2022, not the current cropping year. If you do not know the field number and area of your over-wintered stubble options when you are completing your claim form, then leave these columns blank and tick the box to say you will tell us later. If so, please let us have the details of over-wintered stubble options by 1 September 2021.
You need to tell us if you change the location of any of your RAO after you have submitted the claim form.
There is no requirement to keep options in place after the agreement ends. You do not need to tell us where the option will be if over wintering after harvest starts after the end of the agreement.
After you have submitted your claim form, you can amend it by writing to us: for example, where you are not able to carry out the management requested, or a land transfer. Please note, for land transfers you must complete a separate ‘Land Transfer and Amendment’ form (LTA1) to register any change in obligations if you have not already done so. Please request the LTA1 form from us.
If we receive your change(s) by midnight 1 June 2021 we will not apply a late claim penalty for the change. After this date, we can continue to accept changes received until 9 June 2021 but depending on the timing and the amendment made, we may apply late claim penalties on the amended area.
Please read the declarations carefully to make sure you fully understand them.
If an agent is completing and submitting the claim form, they should complete this section. The Agent authorisation form for ES can be found on GOV.UK by searching for ‘Agent authorisation: Environmental Stewardship’. To be able to submit the claim form, the agent must tick the ‘Agreement Management Agent’ box on the authorisation form. (The ‘Application Submission Agent’ does not give authority for an agent to submit a claim form.)
Sign Section 7 to complete your claim form, taking note of the warning at the end of the form. Please remember to enter your capacity (for example. agreement holder, partner or agent) and sign and date the form.
Either:
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post your completed claim form and any supporting documents, for example, agent authorisation form or continuation sheets ,to the Rural Payments Agency office address shown at the top of the claim form, or
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email a scanned copy of the claim form and any supporting documents, to the Rural Payments Agency office address shown at the top of the claim form, putting ‘Environmental Stewardship claim form 2021’ in the Subject line of your email. You must send this from a valid business email address registered against your Single Business Identifier (SBI) in the Rural Payments service.
Once we have received your claim form, we will check it to see that it has been completed in full. If anything is missing, we will contact you. If your claim is submitted late, we will let you know about any penalties.