Scheme requirements, procedures and agreement management
You must read and meet the requirements detailed in this section as these are mandatory for all Countryside Stewardship WMP agreement holders.
‘Agreement Holder’ means the person (whether an individual, a company or other entity) who has entered into the Countryside Stewardship Agreement as identified in the Agreement Document (in line with clause 1 of the Terms and Conditions – see Annex 1).
‘Agreement Land’ is defined in clause 1 of the Terms and Conditions (Annex 1).
A Countryside Stewardship Agreement is made up of the Countryside Stewardship Terms and Conditions (Annex 1), the Agreement Document (which sets out Agreement Holder-specific details) and any supplementary documents referred to in the Agreement Document.
You can submit a payment claim for your approved WMP at any time of the year, providing you meet the following terms:
- the capital work (that is, the completed WMP) was completed to the standards set out in Create a woodland management plan within 2 years from the agreement start date (see section 2.6)
- the WMP and associated felling permissions have been approved by a FCWO
- we receive your payment claim no later than three months following the agreement end date.
You can only make one payment claim for the WMP grant, for the full amount. We will pay valid claims within two months of receiving them. We will reject any payment claims which are late.
Guidance on how to submit a payment claim online is available online.
If you cannot claim online, contact us to get a claim form.
We will make payments directly into your bank account. You do not need to send any evidence that we have approved the WMP with the payment claim.
You cannot change or amend your agreement after you’ve been offered a grant.
We may reduce or withhold payments, or recover previous payments if you:
- breach the terms of your agreement
- do not meet the relevant eligibility criteria on all or part of your land.
In some circumstances, we may apply additional penalties.
5.5.1 Late payment claims
You must claim for payment no later than 3 months following the agreement end date. If you do not, we will not pay you.
5.5.2 Cross compliance
If you receive BPS payments, you must follow the cross compliance rules.
If you do not receive BPS payments, and your only agri-environment agreement is the Woodland Management Plan grant, then you do not need to follow the cross compliance rules.
5.5.3 Breaches of Agreement
If you do not meet the terms of your agreement, we may apply penalties to your payment or ask you to repay monies we have already paid to you.
If we find breaches during administrative checks or inspections, we will write to tell you.
In cases of fraud or severe non-compliance, we can withhold all support and stop a new Countryside Stewardship application being made for up to 2 years.
5.5.4 Refusal or withdrawal of payments claimed
In certain circumstances, we may refuse, or withdraw in full, the payment you have claimed. We will do this is if we think any of the following has happened:
- you have committed a serious non-compliance
- you have provided false evidence
- you have negligently failed to provide the necessary information (for instance, where we have asked for it repeatedly and there is no reason why you have not provided it)
- you have already been paid for the same or similar work.
If we have to withdraw support we may also refuse support for other Rural Development schemes. If this is the case, we will tell you, and you will be able to appeal against this decision.
5.5.5 Over-declaration of expenditure
If you submit a claim for more than the value of the costs which are eligible to be claimed, we may apply a penalty. Where the amount over-claimed is 10% or less of the value of the eligible costs, we will reduce the payment to the correct amount but will not apply an additional penalty.
Where the amount over-claimed is more than 10%, we will reduce the payment to the correct amount and apply a penalty equal to the difference between the eligible costs and the amount claimed, up to a maximum of the entire value of the claim.
5.5.6 Interest charges
When we recover payments we have already made to you, we will apply interest. Interest will begin from 60 days after the date we send you a recovery order and will continue until you repay the monies to us. This will include any period when you are appealing against the recovery or penalty or it is being reviewed.
If you are unhappy with a decision about your application or service you’ve had you can appeal.
Full guidance about how to complain is available online.