Chapter 10: Public payments
Updated 20 February 2024
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Summary
Key results for 2022
- Total direct payments to farmers decreased by £83 million (-3.0%) from 2021, to £3,213 million in 2022.
- Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments decreased by £222 million (-7.9%) from 2021, to £2,603 million in 2022.
- Payments linked to agri-environment schemes increased by £2 million (0.5%) from 2021, to £357 million in 2022.
Introduction
This chapter shows the value of agricultural support payments in the United Kingdom. Agricultural support will vary as older schemes close and new schemes are introduced, therefore care should be taken when comparing between UK countries and years.
In 2021, agricultural support payments began to change following the UK’s departure from the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Payments made to UK farmers under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) before 2021 were set in Euros and converted to Sterling using the exchange rate set by the European Central Bank for the month of September as a whole. From 2021 onward all BPS payments are funded by the UK exchequer and includes young farmer and redistributive payments.
Existing schemes under rural development programmes will continue to be co-funded from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) until 2024 or until remaining funds are depleted, whichever is sooner.
Payments previously made under the CAP will gradually be replaced by payments from the devolved governments. Agricultural domestic support will be administered through new schemes introduced in each country, and will generally be targeted at improving agri-environmental performance.
Direct Payments
The tables below show the direct payments made to agricultural producers that feed into the agricultural accounts (see Chapter 4). Amounts are shown by year and by country for the year 2022.
Values shown for a particular year refer to schemes operating in that year and are shown in current price, i.e. not adjusted for inflation, and are expressed as amounts expected to be paid.
Table 10.1: Direct payments to farmers 2020 to 2022 (£ million)
Enquiries: Katie Fisher on 020 856 54419
Email: farmaccounts@defra.gov.uk
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decoupled and other payments | |||
| Basic payment scheme | 2,778 | 2,825 | 2,603 |
| Agri-environment schemes | 433 | 355 | 357 |
| Less favoured areas support schemes | 30 | 31 | 117 |
| Animal disease compensation | 25 | 27 | 68 |
| Other | 31 | 12 | 20 |
| Total decoupled and other payments | 3,297 | 3,249 | 3,166 |
| Coupled payments (linked to production) | |||
| Total coupled payments less levies | 47 | 47 | 48 |
| Total direct payments less levies | 3,344 | 3,296 | 3,213 |
Notes:
-
Decoupled payments are not linked to production and include the Basic Payment Scheme and agri-environment schemes. Coupled payments are linked to production.
-
Other payments in 2022 include the New Entrants scheme operated in Scotland, and Covid 19 support schemes in Northern Ireland.
-
Coupled payment schemes in 2022 include the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme, the Scottish Upland Sheep Scheme and the Northern Ireland Protein Crops Scheme. Total payments under the Protein Crops Scheme were less than £0.5 million and so are not shown in Table 10.2 below.
Download the full Public Payments dataset
Table 10.2: Direct payments to farmers by country (£ million).
Enquiries: Katie Fisher on 020 856 54419
Email: farmaccounts@defra.gov.uk
| England | Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decoupled and other payments | ||||
| Basic payment scheme | 1,648 | 237 | 421 | 297 |
| Agri-environment schemes | 286 | 41 | 24 | 6 |
| Less favoured areas support schemes | .. | .. | 117 | .. |
| Animal disease compensation | 52 | 5 | 1 | 11 |
| Other | 10 | .. | 10 | 1 |
| Coupled payments | .. | .. | 47 | .. |
| Total direct payments less levies | 1,995 | 283 | 620 | 315 |
Notes:
- ’..’ means not applicable.
Download the full Public Payments dataset
Take-up of agri-environment schemes
Agri-environment schemes provide an incentive to farmers to adopt land management and farm practices that are beneficial to the environment. The take-up of agri-environment schemes is shown by the total number of agri-environment agreements in place and the total area of land under these agreements. Due to the differing requirements of schemes, care should be taken when making comparisons. Fluctuations in areas and numbers occur as old schemes expire and new schemes begin.
Figure 10.1 Area under agri-environment schemes by country for 2020 to 2022 (thousand hectares)
Enquiries: Resham Chana
Email: resham.chana@defra.gov.uk
| Year | England | Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland | UK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2,789 | 677 | 1,212 | 53 | 4,731 |
| 2021 | 3,035 | 647 | 1,179 | 61 | 4,922 |
| 2022 | 3,565 | 554 | 870 | 63 | 5,052 |
Download the full Public Payments dataset
Figure 10.2 Number of agri-environment agreements by country for 2020 to 2022
Enquiries: Resham Chana
Email: resham.chana@defra.gov.uk
| Year | England | Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland | UK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 27,800 | 3,100 | 4,400 | 5,000 | 40,300 |
| 2021 | 28,800 | 3,000 | 4,200 | 5,500 | 41,500 |
| 2022 | 34,500 | 2,800 | 3,400 | 5,000 | 45,700 |
Download the full Public Payments dataset
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payments
Figure 10.3 shows all Pillar 2 Common Agricultural Policy payments for 2017 to 2022. Pillar 2 funds rural development programmes and schemes are co-funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development until 2024, or until funds are depleted. Data is presented by European Union agricultural financial years and shown in Euros.
CAP-funded Pillar 1 payments ended in 2021 and legacy schemes have switched to UK funding. CAP Pillar 1 payments prior to 2021 can be viewed in the full dataset.
Figure 10.3: Pillar 2 Common Agricultural Policy payments for 2017 to 2022 (EUR million)
Enquiries: Michael Redfern on +44 (0)207 764 2327
Email: michael.redfern@ukcoordinatingbody.gov.uk
| Year | EAFRD | Co-financing | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 542 | 261 | 803 |
| 2018 | 581 | 179 | 760 |
| 2019 | 776 | 225 | 1,001 |
| 2020 | 766 | 227 | 993 |
| 2021 | 638 | 189 | 827 |
| 2022 | 475 | 171 | 646 |
Download the full Public Payments dataset
General Services Support
Table 10.3 shows the annual cost of general services funded by UK Government and Devolved Administrations to support the agricultural industry. These are services that benefit the sector as a whole, and do not include payments to individual producers.
Table 10.3: General services support for 2021 to 2022 (£ million)
Enquiries: Katie Fisher on 020 856 54419
Email: farmaccounts@defra.gov.uk
| 2021 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural research | 262 | 259 |
| Pest and disease control | 3 | 21 |
| Training services | 3 | 2 |
| Extension and advisory services | 75 | 30 |
| Inspection services | 199 | 288 |
| Marketing and promotions services | 42 | 43 |
| Infrastructural services | 43 | 36 |
Download the full Public Payments dataset
Revisions
Figures for 2022 are provisional and subject to revision.
As a result of more data becoming available over time there have been minor revisions to earlier years in this release. These revisions are intended to enhance the precision of these estimates. Sometimes additional revisions are necessary to refine the methodology or correct historical errors, such revisions will always be noted.
Below are a list of key revisions that have been carried out since the last publication:
- Figures for the area of land and number of agreements under agri-environment schemes for England have been updated to include 2021 data.