Checking you're complying with your SFI agreement
Find out how we'll check you're complying with your SFI agreement.
Applies to England
We’re using a new, supportive and pragmatic approach to checking you’re complying with your Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) agreement.
If you cannot comply with your SFI agreement and we think it’s an issue that can be resolved, we’ll offer you advice and guidance to help you fix what’s gone wrong, wherever possible.
We’ve tried to minimise prescription in the SFI actions. You must do what’s required in the SFI actions, but it’s up to you how you complete them as long as you do it in a way that can reasonably be expected to achieve the action’s aim. This is so you can make the actions work for your farm.
What we may check
During your 3-year SFI agreement, we may check that:
- you’re complying with your SFI agreement’s terms and conditions
- you’ve done what’s required in each SFI action you’ve chosen in a way that could reasonably be expected to achieve its aim
How we may check you’re complying with your agreement
We’ll use a range of methods to check you’re complying with your SFI agreement, including:
- administrative checks
- carrying out site visits (physical or by video call)
- using remote monitoring technology, such as aerial photography and satellite imagery
- checking the evidence that we ask you to supply, such as a soil management plan or soil organic matter test results
- reviewing the annual declaration that you submit to confirm you’re complying with your SFI agreement
These are explained in more detail below.
Administrative checks
We’ll carry out administrative checks to make sure that you and your land meet the eligibility requirements for the 3-year duration of your SFI agreement. This includes the nature and quality of any supporting evidence, such as receipts and farm records.
Site visits
If your farm is selected for a site visit, we’ll try to arrange a suitable date and time with you in advance and let you know what to expect during the visit.
If it’s not possible to arrange a suitable date and time, we’ll write to you by post or email explaining the purpose, date and time of the visit. This will be at least 48 hours before the site visit.
Read the guidance on what to expect from a site visit to check you’re complying with your SFI agreement.
Remote monitoring
Remote monitoring uses aerial photography and satellite imagery to monitor thinks like land cover, vegetation condition and soil erosion risk. It aims to:
- reduce the need for physical site visits
- make sure the SFI actions are delivering environmental benefits
- automatically identify potential issues so we can give targeted support and guidance
Evidence you need to keep
You must supply evidence if we ask for it.
The evidence you should keep is explained in:
- the details of each SFI action (described under ‘what evidence to keep’ for each action in the details of the SFI actions page)
- the SFI scheme rules (contained in the Eligible land for an agreement page and the How your SFI agreement works’ page)
Annual declaration
You must submit an annual declaration for each year of your SFI agreement. Read about submitting an annual declaration in the Getting paid for your SFI agreement page to find out more.
What happens if you find you cannot comply with your agreement
If you find you cannot do what’s required under your SFI agreement, we’ll try to be pragmatic and start by helping you to fix what’s gone wrong.
Something may happen for reasons within or outside your control (a ‘change of circumstances’) that means you cannot:
- comply with your SFI agreement’s terms and conditions
- complete what’s required in the SFI actions you’ve chosen in a way that could reasonably be expected to achieve each action’s aim
If this is the case, you must tell us about this change of circumstances, in writing, as soon as reasonably practicable, and preferably within 8 weeks of being able to do so, if it affects:
- your eligibility
- the amount of money you should get
- your ability to complete the SFI actions that are in your SFI agreement
- your ability to comply with your SFI agreement’s terms and conditions
It will be a breach of your SFI agreement if you do not tell us about a change of circumstances when you’re required to.
How to tell us about a change of circumstances
You must tell us about a change of circumstances in writing. You can do this by post, email or use the SFI query form. Find out how to contact the RPA about SFI.
When you write to us, you should include:
- your Single Business Identifier (SBI)
- your SFI agreement reference number, which you can find on your agreement document
- as many details as possible about the change of circumstances, including specific details about the SFI actions you’re having issues with
What happens when you tell us about a change of circumstances
We’ll look at each change of circumstances on a case-by-case basis. Depending on what’s happened, we may decide to:
- amend your agreement, for example, to remove land
- end your agreement early, before the end of its 3-year term
- adjust your payments
- ask you to repay money already paid to you
We’ll tell you what our decision is. If you do not agree with it, you can use our complaints procedure to ask us to reconsider it. You must do this within 60 calendar days of the date you’re notified of our decision.
How you could breach your agreement
You could breach your SFI agreement if you do not comply with the mandatory scheme requirements for the duration of your 3-year SFI agreement.
This includes if you:
- do not complete what’s required in the SFI actions
- do not report a change of circumstances which affects your ability to comply with your agreement, in writing, as soon as reasonably practicable, and preferably within 8 weeks of being able to do so
- give false or misleading information
- do not provide information or evidence we ask for
- prevent a site visit from being carried out
- refuse to assist an authorised person during a site visit
What happens if there’s been a suspected breach
When we’re checking you’re complying with your SFI agreement, we may find a suspected breach.
If this happens, we’ll investigate the suspected breach. Unlike previous schemes, we will not usually withhold your payments whilst we carry out our investigation.
Where possible, we’ll discuss this investigation with you, so you understand what we’ve considered. As part of this investigation, we may ask you to supply further information or evidence to us.
Once we’ve completed our investigation, we’ll tell you the outcome. If you do not agree with the outcome, you’ll be able to make written representations on why you do not agree.
When we write to tell you the outcome of our investigation, we’ll explain how to make written representations, including the time limit for submitting these to us. We’ll consider your written representations before making a formal determination on whether there has been a breach of your SFI agreement.
What happens if we confirm there’s been a breach
If we decide there’s been a breach of your SFI agreement, we’ll write to tell you this within a reasonable period. We’ll explain the reasons for this decision.
We’ll then decide what action, if any, needs to be taken. To do this, we’ll look at the individual circumstances of your case and consider various factors, such as:
- how serious the breach was
- if you had a ‘good reason’ for the breach
- why the breach happened and any consequences it may have
- what impact the breach has on achieving the aims of the SFI actions in your SFI agreement, and whether that impact with be short or longer term
- if you can take action to make sure you are complying with your SFI agreement
- any past conduct and whether a similar breach has happened before
- if you intentionally breached your SFI agreement
- whether the breach constitutes an offence and has caused widespread or irreparable damage
- if you have not co-operated with us checking progress of your SFI agreement
- whether you’ve notified us about a change of circumstances, if relevant
If you do not agree with our decision, you can use our complaints procedure to ask us to reconsider it. You must do this within 60 calendar days of the date you’re notified of our decision.
Good reasons for a breach
There may be ‘good reasons’ outside your control for a breach of your SFI agreement.
Good reasons for a breach include, but are not limited to:
- natural events, such as prolonged adverse weather conditions, flooding, or animal or plant disease
- if you’re seriously ill
- death of the SFI agreement holder
- unforeseen loss of management control of land, for example when a tenancy is terminated, or because of compulsory purchase of land by a third party
- financial circumstances, such as bankruptcy
- evidence supply chain problems, such as lack of laboratory soil testing capacity
- criminal damage by a third party, such as arson or vandalism
How to tell us about good reasons for a breach
If there’s a good reason outside your control for a breach, you (or someone authorised to act on your behalf) must write to us to explain this. Find out how to contact the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) about SFI.
You must tell us in writing immediately if the good reasons for a breach of your SFI agreement relate to you:
- preventing us from carrying out a site visit
- refusing to provide assistance with a site visit
In all other cases, you must tell us in writing within 8 weeks from either:
- the date you’re able to do so
- the date we tell you about our decision that there’s been a breach of your SFI agreement
When you write to us, you should include:
- your SBI
- your SFI agreement reference number, which you can find on your agreement document
You should explain:
- what’s happened
- what good reason outside your control led to the breach of your SFI agreement
- whether you can fix the problem
- how the good reason prevented you from complying with your SFI agreement
- any evidence or information that may support your case
What happens when you tell us about good reasons for a breach
We’ll consider your individual situation and may ask you to supply additional evidence. We’ll then decide what action, if any, needs to be taken. We’ll tell you what we decide.
If you’re aware of the issue when you enter your SFI agreement, it’s unlikely we’ll consider it to be a good reason for a breach.
In practice, we’ll also take ‘good reasons’ into account when we investigate a suspected breach. If we agree that there are good reasons for a breach, we may be able to tell you during the investigation what, if anything, needs to be done.
What action we may take when there’s a breach
When there’s a breach, we’ll consider what the appropriate action is in a fair and consistent manner, on a case-by-case basis. There are no set actions for particular breaches.
It may not be necessary for us to take any action at all, depending on:
- the nature of the breach
- any evidence you supply to us of a good reason for the breach
If we need to take action, wherever possible, we’ll look at what you can do to fix what’s gone wrong, so you can get on with doing what’s required under your SFI agreement.
If we decide it’s possible for you to fix what’s gone wrong, we’ll write to you and explain what you must do. In this case, you must:
- complete all of the SFI actions in your SFI agreement
- submit your annual declaration
If you do this within the relevant agreement year (each 12-month period from the start of your SFI agreement), you will not have to repay payments already received for the affected agreement year.
In other cases, we may consider taking more formal action to deal with the breach. This could include actions such as amending your agreement or asking you to repay some, or all, of the money already paid to you for the relevant agreement year.
Read condition 12.5 of your SFI agreement’s terms and conditions to find more details on what action we could take if there’s a breach.
Unlike previous schemes, there will be no additional financial ‘penalties’ applied.
What happens if we decide there’s a serious breach
We may decide that there’s a serious breach of your SFI agreement because it was:
- intentional
- due to negligence or recklessness
- has happened more than once, without good reason
In this case, we may:
- end your SFI agreement
- prevent you from receiving payments under any other financial assistance scheme for up to 2 years
Where there is evidence of fraud or illegality, we will pursue that in line with the law on those issues.