Guidance

England Woodland Creation Offer 2024 rate uplifts: operations note 67

Updated 10 April 2024

Applies to England

• Publication for Northern Ireland
• Publication for Scotland
• Publication for Wales

Summary

On 18 March 2024 the Forestry Commission announced new payments and increased rates for existing payments for EWCO as follows:

• low sensitivity land payment: a new payment to encourage EWCO applications on low sensitivity land for woodland creation, paid at £1,100 per hectare
• Nature Recovery – premium: a new payment option added to the Nature Recovery Additional Contribution (AC), to encourage the creation of highly biodiverse woodlands next to ancient woodlands, paid at £3,300 per hectare
• increased rates for existing ACs: the rates of all ACs have been increased, except for the high and low Nature Recovery ACs. See the previous and revised rates in the rates table
• increased rate for maintenance payments: rising to £400 per hectare per year (previously £350 per hectare per year)

Context

Landowners, land managers and public bodies can apply to EWCO for support to create new woodland. EWCO now has the following 5 types of payment:

• support for capital items and activities to establish new woodland, with payments covering 100% of standard costs (the national average)
• contribution towards the actual cost of installing infrastructure to either enable the current and future management of the woodland, or to provide recreational access
• 15 years of annual maintenance payments to support the work establishing the young trees once the capital works are complete
• Additional Contributions where the new woodland’s location and design will deliver public benefits
• new payment for proposals within a low sensitivity area for woodland creation

New payments

Low sensitivity land payment

The low sensitivity land payment is a new payment to encourage EWCO applications on land which has a low sensitivity to woodland creation. This payment is £1,100 per hectare. It will be paid with the final capital claim, alongside any ACs.

Eligibility for this payment is aligned with the criteria for the Woodland Creation Fast Track. The application must be within a low sensitivity area for woodland creation. Low sensitivity land is land with the greatest potential to create woodland as it has no sensitivities preventing tree planting or woodland creation recorded in national datasets. Please see the EWCO Grant Manual for more details.

Nature Recovery – premium  

The new ‘Nature Recovery – premium’ payment option (£3,300 per hectare) has been added to the Nature Recovery AC, to encourage the planting or natural colonisation of highly biodiverse woodlands next to ancient woodland.

Eligibility for this payment is based on woodland design and location, as follows:

• design: the design requirements for the existing Nature Recovery AC payment options also apply for the premium rate (see Section 4.3.4 of the EWCO Grant Manual for details, such as species mix and stocking density)
• location: the spatial targeting layer for the Nature Recovery AC has been updated to include a Premium Spatial Priority Area, this new layer is called ‘EWCO Nature Recovery – Priority Habitat Network’ and includes the low and high spatial areas. You can now view this updated layer on our the Mapping Browser

Please see the EWCO Grant Manual for more details.

The new payments are not available to existing agreement holders. If you close your current agreement and submit a new application for the same land, we will not include the new payments.

Uplifts to existing payments

Existing Additional Contributions

The rates of all ACs have been increased, except for the existing high and low rates of the Nature Recovery AC. 

AC rate increases (per hectare) are as follows:

• water quality: from £400 to £500
• flood risk management: from £500 to £1,000
• Riparian Buffers: from £1,600 to £2,500
• close to settlements: from £500 to £600
• recreational access: from £2,200 to £3,700

See both previous and revised rates in the rates table.

Maintenance payments

Annual maintenance payments are paid in the autumn to agreement holders who have completed their capital work. The rate has been increased from £350 to £400 per hectare per year for 15 years. The rates for Countryside Stewardship Woodland Creation Maintenance (WD1) and Tree Health Pilot maintenance have also been increased to £400 per hectare.

Implementation

New applications

From 1 May 2024, if you are submitting a new EWCO application, you must use the new application form (v2.5). If you use the old form (v2.4) before 1 May 2024, we will adjust the maintenance payments and existing Additional Contribution rates on your behalf.

If you are submitting a new application before 1 May 2024 and want to apply to one of the new payments (low sensitivity land payment or Nature Recovery – premium), you must use the new form.

You can find the new application form on the EWCO forms page.

Applications in progress

If you have an application in progress that was submitted after 29 February 2024 and are eligible for the low sensitivity land payment, we will apply the payment to your application on your behalf. You can opt out of receiving this payment before accepting your agreement.

If you submitted your application before 29 February 2024, you are not eligible to receive the low sensitivity land payment. If you withdraw your current application and submit a new one for the same land, it will not be eligible for the low sensitivity land payment.

If you have an application in progress that is eligible for the new Nature Recovery – premium and you would like to apply for the new payment, you will need to resubmit your application on the new application form (v2.5). You can find the new application form on the EWCO forms page.

We will adjust the maintenance payment and existing Additional Contributions rates within all applications in progress, so applicants do not need to do anything to access those new rates. 

Agreement holders

If you accepted your grant offer before 18 March 2024 and now have an agreement, you are not eligible for the new payments (low sensitivity land payment and Nature Recovery – premium).

If you submitted your final capital claim before 18 March 2024, you will not receive the Additional Contribution uplift. This cut-off date applies to the initial submission of the claim, not to any resubmissions.

If you submit your final capital claim on or after 18 March 2024, you will be paid any Additional Contributions in your agreement at the new rates. If you receive payment before we have updated our systems and the new rates have not been applied, you will receive a future top-up payment for the difference.

The increase to maintenance payments will be applied to all payments from 2024 onwards. This includes existing agreements. Any maintenance payments already paid to you will not be uplifted.

Sources of further advice

England Woodland Creation Offer contains all the information you need to apply for EWCO. Alternatively, you can request this information from ewco@forestrycommission.gov.uk.

Rates table

Payment	Previous rate (where applicable) (per hectare)	New or revised rate (per hectare)
Low sensitivity land payment	N/A	£1,100
Additional Contributions
Nature Recovery - premium*	N/A	£3,300
Nature Recovery - higher*	£2,800	£2,800
Nature Recovery - lower*	£1,100	£1,100
Water quality	£400	£500
Flood risk management	£500	£1,000
Riparian Buffers	£1,600	£2,500
Close to settlements	£500	£600
Recreational access	£2,200	£3,700
Annual maintenance payments	£350	£400

*Only one of these rates will apply to any one area.