How to make a capital or revenue claim
Read the guidance to help you claim payment for Countryside Stewardship agreements that started before 2025, and for capital items.
Applies to England
Make a revenue claim
For Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier agreements starting from 2025, you must submit an annual declaration. You do not need to submit an annual claim form. Read section 16.1 ‘Submit your annual declaration’ in the CSHT agreement holder’s guide.
The final deadline for submitting your revenue claim and any supporting evidence has now passed.
We will not pay claims that are submitted after 11.59pm on 1 September 2026, unless exceptional circumstances apply.
If this is the first year of your agreement, you must submit a revenue claim in 2026.
Make a claim online
You can claim online using the Rural Payments service. Once you’ve signed in, select ‘View business’ then scroll down the business overview to ‘Countryside Stewardship claims’.
On the Countryside Stewardship claims screen, click the button ‘Annual Declaration’ to make your annual revenue claim.
You can then use the on-screen ‘Help’ link to take you through each process step-by-step.
Read more about how to create an annual declaration online.
Make a claim by email or post
If you’re unable to claim online, contact RPA by phone or email to request a revenue claim form.
Follow the guidance on how to complete a CS revenue claim by email or post.
Send your completed form, supporting documents and evidence (where relevant) to us by post or email using our contact details.
Make a capital claim
To claim for capital items in a Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT) agreement that started from 2025, read section 16.2: ‘Claim for your capital items’ in the CSHT agreement holder’s guide.
For other capital items, you can submit your claim at any time of year. This must be:
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after the capital work is finished
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after you have been charged or invoiced
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before or within 3 months of the Claim by Date of the capital item, you can check this in your agreement document - a late claim reduction will apply if the claim is received after this date
We will apply late claim reductions as follows:
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claim submitted up to 1 month after Claim by Date – 5% reduction
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claim submitted 1 to 2 months after Claim by Date – 10% reduction
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claim submitted 2 to 3 months after Claim by Date – 25% reduction
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claim submitted more than 3 months after Claim by Date or not at all – 100% reduction
All the information you need to know about capital claims is in the relevant scheme guidance.
Make a CS claim online
The process for claiming capital item VED1: Educational access visits in the Rural Payments service has changed. Please contact RPA if you need help with this new process.
You can claim online using the Rural Payments service. Once you’ve signed in, select ‘View business details’ then scroll down the business overview to ‘Countryside Stewardship claims’.
Use the onscreen ‘Help’ link to take you through each step of the process.
Please contact RPA if you have any difficulties with the online process.
Make a claim by email or post
If you’re unable to claim online, contact RPA by phone or email to request a capital claim form.
Follow the guidance on how to complete your CS capital claim form by email or post.
Send your completed form, supporting documents and evidence (where relevant) to us by post or email using our contact details.
Contact us
You can contact RPA by query form, email, post or phone.
Complete a query form in the Rural Payments service. To do this, sign in to your Rural Payments account and go to ‘Create or view a query’.
Email: ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk
Rural Payments Agency
PO Box 324
Worksop
S95 1DF
Telephone: 03000 200 301
Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm (excluding public holidays)