Confirm your information and apply
This section tells you what you need to check before you submit your application
The ‘Application summary’ and ‘Grant totals’ tabs give useful information about the options and items that you have chosen and the financial value of your application. The information in them appears automatically as you fill in annexes 1 to 3. If you have completed paper annexes, this information will not appear unless you manually fill it in.
Application summary tab
Use this tab to confirm for yourself that you have added all the correct options into your application.
Grant totals tab
Use this tab to confirm for yourself the value of your application.
Before you submit your application, you can use this checklist to help you make sure that you have done everything you need to do.
1) You’ve read and understood the CS scheme rules and requirements including the terms and conditions in the CS Mid Tier and Wildlife Offers manual.
2) You and the land that you are including in your application are eligible for CS – read Section 3 ‘Who can apply’ in the CS Mid Tier and Wildlife Offers manual.
3) You’ve registered all of the land in your application in the Rural Payments service. Checked all the details are correct and submitted an RLE1 form for any land that is not already registered.
This includes farmyards on which you apply for capital works or maintenance of weatherproof traditional farm buildings.
The application does not have to cover the whole holding but it must include all land parcels that will support rotational options for the whole period of the agreement and all Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) or Scheduled Monuments (SM) within your control.
Cross compliance requirements apply across the whole holding.
4) You have the correct permission levels in the Rural Payments service to complete and submit this application.
To authorise an agent to act on behalf of this business, anyone with ‘Business Details – Full permission’ for the business can give an agent ‘CS Applications – Submit’ permission.
5) You have your County Parish Holding (CPH) number to hand if you are contacting a Catchment Sensitive Farming officer. Read ‘Get a permanent CPH number’ on GOV.UK, search for Register land you use to keep livestock.
6) You have a valid Historic Environment Farm Record (HEFER) if required. For more information read section 4.9.2 in the CS Mid Tier and Wildlife Offers manual. Unless you told us that you already have a valid HEFER Consultation Response, we will have requested one from Historic England when you requested your application pack. If you have not received it within 20 working days, please contact us.
A valid HEFER must be less than 3 years old and there must have been no changes or new archaeological features identified to your holding since it was created.
Use the HEFER to help you choose your Historic Environment (HE) options and prevent the use of damaging options on HE features.
7) You’ve completed Annexes 1 to 3 (if appropriate)
8) You’ve given the following details in Annex 1 – Land summary:
- all land parcels containing SSSIs
- all land parcels containing Scheduled Monuments
- all land parcels that will support rotational options
- all land parcels at moderate to high risk from runoff or soil erosion
- land use codes for all the land parcels in this Mid Tier application. Unless you are applying for BPS this year, then you only need to give the land use codes for any land parcels in this Mid Tier application that are not in the BPS application.
9) You’ve completed the following maps:
- a Farm Environment Record (FER) map including:
- all features and area on the land parcels included in your application
- all land parcels containing Scheduled Monuments
- all land parcels containing SSSIs
- all land parcels at moderate to high risk from runoff or soil erosion
- an Options map for the multi-year and capital items in your application
- for water quality capital items only, a sketch map showing the location of the farmyard and all farmyard water quality options.
10) You’ve filled in Section 4: Declaration and undertakings of the application form. (You only need to sign in the box if you are submitting a paper application form by post.)
11) You know what supporting documents you must submit with your application. You’ve completed and attached them where necessary:
- CS Land Ownership and Control form(s) – read Question 4
- a copy of your tenancy agreement (if you have a public body landlord) – read Question 4
- written support from your Catchment Sensitive Farming officer – read Question 9
- the required evidence if someone else applies for BPS on any land in your Mid Tier application – read Question 7. Read about dual use under ‘Management control: eligibility and scheme rules’ in the CS Mid Tier and Wildlife Offers manual on GOV.UK.
12) You understand what evidence is needed for your application. This depends on the options you choose.
This may include for example, a valid organic schedule and certificate, Natural England approval to use specific options or necessary permission (such as planning permission).
For more information about evidence read the ‘How to apply’ section and section 6.4 in the CS Mid Tier and Wildlife Offers manual on GOV.UK. Or for information about evidence for each option and capital item read Countryside Stewardship grants on GOV.UK.
13) You’ve attached any other required supporting documents, and evidence that must be submitted with your application.
14) You’ve told us the number of continuation sheets you’ve used (if applicable).
We must receive your application and supporting documents by midnight on 30 July 2021. We may also need to receive some evidence by this date – read below.
Supporting documents:
For example:
- Options map
- FER map
Maps – for more information about what to include in your maps, read ‘Step 2 – Your Farm Environment Record (FER) map(s)’ and ‘Step 3 – Your options map(s) and option/capital items annexes’. Or read the Mid Tier manual on GOV.UK.
Evidence
Some evidence we must receive by midnight on 30 July 2021, and some evidence you should keep until we ask for it. Read about the requirements for each option or item in Countryside Stewardship grants on GOV.UK.
How to submit your supporting documents or evidence
You can scan and email all the documents to RPA. You must put your SBI and Application ID on all documents.
The maximum size of emails we can accept is 32MB. If the email exceeds this limit, please send a further email and use the same subject heading. Add the number of emails at the end of the subject heading, for example, 1 of 3, 2 of 3, 3 of 3.
For security reasons, we cannot accept discs, USB pen drives or other external storage media.
You can submit digital photos by email, but do not scan printed photos as the quality is not good enough.
Or you can post the documents to us using the address in ‘More information and contacts’.
All of the following must reach RPA before the application deadline (30 July 2021):
- all sections of the completed application form
- all relevant completed annexes
- all completed maps and any other supporting documents
- any evidence that Countryside Stewardship grants shows must be submitted.
For all applications you must:
- put your SBI and Application ID on everything you send to us.
- have the correct permission level (at least ‘CS Applications – Submit’) in the Rural Payments service.
Submit your application by email
If you received your application pack by email ‘reply’ to that email, attaching your completed documents to it. You’ll need to scan the completed maps and supporting documents first. By ‘replying’ to the email we sent to you, rather than sending us a new email, your application will be automatically forwarded to the correct team, and not have to wait in a queue to be sorted manually.
If you received your application pack by post you can submit it by email. Scan all the documents, attach them to an email and send the email to ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk Put ‘Application – CS – Mid Tier’ in the email subject heading.
You must put your SBI and Application ID number in your email as well as on everything you attach to the email.
Make sure that the email address you’re sending your application from is registered for your business in the Rural Payments service. You don’t need to sign your application if submitting by email, but the email address must be registered to someone with ‘CS applications submit permissions’.
Submit your application by post
If you received your application pack by post and cannot submit it by email, you can post it to:
Rural Payments Agency (CS)
PO Box 324
Worksop
S95 1DF
Remember to sign your paper application form before you submit it.
Post your application in time for us to receive it by 30 July 2021.
We recommend that you get proof of posting for any documents you send to us by post. You should keep a copy of everything you send to us.