Guidance

How to leave your Higher Level Stewardship agreement early to apply for Countryside Stewardship

Updated 10 July 2023

Applies to England

From 1 January 2023, all Environmental Stewardship (ES) agreements adopted domestic terms and conditions. This includes flexibility to allow ES agreement holders to leave an agreement early, without recovery, to apply for another land management scheme. The new scheme must be of equivalent or greater environmental value than the HLS component of your existing ES agreement.

To do this, you must make a Countryside Stewardship (CS) application. If your CS application is accepted and you are offered a new agreement, you can leave your existing HLS agreement. You still need to follow the rules of your HLS agreement until it is closed and make a claim for any outstanding payments.

1. Replace your HLS agreement with a CS agreement

To leave your current HLS agreement you’ll need to consider the CS options available. You must:

• replace your HLS (OHLS and UHLS) options with equivalent CS options – these could be Higher Tier or Mid Tier options
• make sure the land parcels, areas, and lengths (for options such as hedgerow management) in your new CS application are the same or greater

Where your existing HLS agreement has land parcels with HLS options on them, these must be included in your new application. This is because the HLS options are those that aim to deliver significant environmental benefits in high-priority situations and areas and we want to continue management of these. The majority of HLS options have an equivalent CS option. If an equivalent option is not available, you may instead consider other CS options if these increase the environmental benefit. However, a direct replacement is not required and will not affect your application.

As part of establishing equivalent or greater environmental values, you do not need to replace your Entry Level Stewardship (ELS)/OELS/UELS options with CS options. However, you can add more CS options including habitat creation, restoration, and management options, if these increase the environmental value of your application. Read the CS: get funding to protect and improve the land you manage guidance for more information.

Use the ELS, OELS and UELS options and equivalent CS table to find a list of equivalent ELS (ELS, OELS and UELS) options. Or find additional options using the CS grant finder.

You can also add capital items to your CS application at the same time.

Contact your Natural England or Forestry Commission advisor if you need help with replacing options or choosing capital items.

2. How to end your HLS agreement early

The deadline for submitting the ‘Intention to move between land management schemes’ form has now passed.

If you wish to end your HLS agreement early, you need to let us know by filling in an Intention to move between land management schemes form. Completing this form will not automatically move you from one scheme to another and does not commit you to the process. Submitting the form tells RPA that you intend to apply for a new scheme.

You will not be moved from one scheme to another until you:

• apply for a new scheme through standard application process
• receive and accept a new agreement

You can withdraw your intention to move at any time and stay with your existing HLS agreement until it ends.

Follow the instructions below for the scheme you want to apply for.

2.1 Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier

The deadline for CS Higher Tier applications was 28 April 2023. Applications are now closed for 2024 agreement start dates.

2.2 Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier

If you wish to leave your scheme early, you must complete the ‘Intention to move between land management schemes’ form.

For Mid Tier applications, the deadline for submission of the Intention to move form was 11.55pm 1 July.

Ensure to give yourself plenty of time to make an application. The deadline to make an application is 18 August 2023.

3. How to apply for a CS Higher Tier or Mid Tier agreement

Before you apply to move from HLS to a CS scheme, you should check that the appropriate CS application window is open.

3.1 CS Higher Tier application

Contact your Natural England or Forestry Commission advisor to make sure you meet the ‘equivalent’ criteria using the options tables to help you compare options between schemes.

If all of your HLS options are appropriate for a CS Higher Tier agreement, you can make an application.

Once your application has been submitted, Natural England and the Forestry Commission will assess it to make sure the options you’ve selected are equivalent, or of greater environmental value, to your current agreement.

3.2 CS Mid Tier application

Use the options tables to help you compare options between schemes.

If all your HLS options are appropriate for a CS Mid Tier agreement, you can make an application.

When your application has been submitted, RPA will check that your CS option choices are of equivalent, or of greater environmental value to your current agreement once you have submitted your application.

3.3 Options tables

Table 1: HLS, OHLS and UHLS options and equivalent CS options.

Table 2: ELS, OELS and UELS options and equivalent CS options.

Table 3: No equivalent CS option available.

4. After you apply

If your CS application is successful, we will send you an agreement offer. At this stage you will have the option to remain with your existing HLS agreement or accept the new CS offer.

If you accept the new CS offer your existing HLS agreement will be closed without penalty on 31 December 2023. You may need to continue to maintain any HLS capital items paid for under your agreement.

5. Land with Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)

If you have a SSSI on your land, you may need to apply for consent for ongoing management activities. Read the Sites of Special Scientific Interest: managing your land guidance to find out if this applies to you. If it does, you will need give notice and get consent for a planned activity on a SSSI using the notice of proposal form as soon as you receive an offer of a replacement CS agreement from RPA .

6. Woodland HLS options

If you have woodland within your HLS agreement and would like to continue to manage your woodland areas under Countryside Stewardship and need advice please contact your local woodland officer Forestry Commission area contacts.

You will need an approved Woodland Management Plan (WMP) to apply for a CS Higher Tier woodland grant. You can apply for a CS Capital Grant to develop a WMP (CS option PA3) if you do not already have one that is approved by the Forestry Commission.

To find out more about the CS Woodland Higher Tier, read the Applicants guide for Higher Tier grants 2023, and refer to Annex 5 for woodland improvement.

7. Permissive access

RPA will remove permissive access options HN1 - HN7 from any existing HLS agreements as part of the process. This means we will not expect them to be replaced with an equivalent option in any replacement agreement. If you have already been offered and accepted an HLS extension, these options will have already been removed.