Getting paid for your SFI agreement
Find out what you must do to get paid for your SFI agreement, how we’ll calculate your payment, when you’ll be paid and submitting an annual declaration.
Applies to England
This section contains mandatory scheme requirements.
This information explains what you must do to get paid for your Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) agreement, how we’ll calculate your payment, when you’ll be paid and submitting an annual declaration.
What you must do to get paid
To get paid for your SFI agreement, you must:
- complete the SFI actions you’ve chosen for each 12-month period from the start date of your SFI agreement (the ‘agreement year’)
- submit an annual declaration to confirm you’ve complied with the mandatory scheme requirements under your SFI agreement for the relevant agreement year
- supply evidence specified in the SFI scheme information on eligibility of land for an SFI agreement, about your SFI agreement and payments, and the SFI actions when we ask for it
You will not be paid for actions you’re already required to do by law.
How we’ll calculate your payment
Your SFI agreement’s total annual payment will be based on:
- the area of eligible land (in hectares) you enter into area-based SFI actions
- the length of eligible hedgerows (in metres) you enter into the SFI actions for hedgerows
- the additional agreement payment for SAM1 (assess soil, test soil organic matter (SOM) and produce a soil management plan) and MOR1 (assess moorland and produce a written record)
- any agreement level SFI actions you choose – these are IPM1 (assess integrated pest management and produce a plan) and NUM1 (assess nutrient management and produce a review report)
- the SFI management payment, which is explained in more detail below
- the additional annual payment for common land of £7 per hectare if a group of 2 or more people apply for an SFI agreement on common land
Read the details of the SFI actions to find out what the payment rate is for each SFI action.
SFI management payment
In 2023, we’re introducing an additional, annual ‘SFI management payment’. This is to recognise the management and administrative costs for farmers entering into and managing an SFI agreement.
For the first year of your SFI agreement, the SFI management payment will be £40 per hectare per year, for up to the first 50 hectares entered into your SFI agreement. This means that the maximum SFI management payment will be £2,000 for each farm business (SBI) for the first agreement year. For the second and third years of your agreement, the SFI management payment will be £20 per hectare.
The SFI management payment will be based on the area, up to 50 hectares, you enter into all the land-based SFI actions in your SFI agreement, including the action to assess moorland (MOR1) and the actions for hedgerows. We’ll calculate a notional area based on the length of hedgerows entered into the hedgerow actions.
It will not apply to agreement-level actions (IPM1 and NUM1). This is because they are completed by an adviser and the payment rate for these actions already covers the management costs involved. They also do not require you to enter a hectarage into your SFI agreement.
If a farm business (SBI) has more than one SFI agreement, we’ll calculate and pay the SFI management payment for the area, up to 50 hectares, entered into SFI actions in the ‘live’ SFI agreement which started first.
If you enter less than 50 hectares into the relevant ‘live’ SFI agreement, you’ll be able to add eligible land, and SFI actions, to that agreement at your annual upgrade point. Read the information about requesting changes to your SFI agreement. If you do this, the SFI management payment will be based on the increased area of land, up to 50 hectares, from the start of the agreement year when your updated agreement takes effect.
If you tell us that you cannot comply with your SFI agreement and what’s happened means land is removed from your agreement, this may affect your SFI management payment.
When your SFI agreement starts, the SFI management payment will be included in the quarterly instalments of your total annual payment.
We’ll keep the SFI management payment under review as we rollout SFI.
When you’ll be paid
Your total annual payment is divided into 4 equal instalments and paid on a quarterly basis. The first quarterly instalment will usually be made in the fourth month after the start date of your SFI agreement.
Unlike other schemes, such as Countryside Stewardship (CS), you do not need to claim your payment. We’ll usually pay your quarterly instalments automatically, directly via BACS transfer to your registered bank or building society account that’s registered with us.
Your SFI payment statement
Your SFI payment statement will usually be emailed to you a few days before you get paid. The payment statement tells you:
- how much you’ll be paid
- the payment date
- how we calculated your payment
Submitting an annual declaration
You must submit an annual declaration to confirm you’ve complied, or expect to have complied, with the mandatory scheme requirements under your SFI agreement for the relevant agreement year.
This allows us to pay you the final quarterly instalment of your annual payment for the relevant agreement year.
Read the information about checking you’re complying with your SFI agreement.
How and when to submit an annual declaration
Each year of your 3-year SFI agreement, you must submit your annual declaration during the last 2 months of the relevant agreement year (the annual ‘declaration period’).
You’ll submit your annual declaration online in the Rural Payments service.
The timing of your annual declaration period will depend on your SFI agreement’s start date. We’ll tell you when your annual declaration is available to complete.
If you do not submit your annual declaration by the end of the relevant agreement year, we may be unable to make the final quarterly instalment of your annual payment. We may also withhold your other payments or recover payments, and your agreement may be ended.
SFI payment principles
Read the SFI payment principles we’re using to guide our approach to setting payment rates for SFI.
Last updated 22 April 2024 + show all updates
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Update to SFI management payment.
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Update to SFI management payment rate
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First published.