Countryside Stewardship: ending a Countryside Stewardship agreement
Information for agreement holders about ending a Countryside Stewardship agreement.
Applies to England
We have the right to terminate your Countryside Stewardship (CS) agreement by giving you written notice, if any of the following apply:
- you have breached the terms of the agreement
- we find intentional non-compliance or fraud
- there is a change in circumstances affecting your eligibility to receive CS payments
- you have failed to repay any sum which is owed to us
We may also at any time terminate your agreement and any future payments by giving you 6 months written notice.
How to end your agreement
You may end your agreement at any time by giving written notice. In these situations you may need to repay all or part of the payments you have received. Your obligations under the agreement will continue until the repayment has been made.
Your written notice to end your CS agreement must include:
- your agreement reference and Single Business Identifier (SBI)
- the reason for ending your CS agreement
- a signature by a person in the business who has CS ‘Submit’ permissions on the Rural Payments service
If these details are not included in your request, we will refer your request back to the person in the business who has CS ‘Submit’ permissions on the Rural Payments service for further information.
Contact Rural Payments Agency
If you have any questions about ending your CS agreement, contact us on the following details:
Rural Payments Agency
(Countryside Stewardship)
PO Box 324
Worksop
S95 1DF
Email ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk
Tel: 03000 200 301
Opening times: 8:30am to 5pm, Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays)
Find out about call charges at www.gov.uk/call-charges