Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) 2022 agreement extension
Information for agreement holders about extensions for suitable Environmental Stewardship Higher Level Stewardship agreements due to expire in 2022
Applies to England
Background
A Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) extension is when the end date of an expiring HLS agreement can be changed to a later date.
If your agreement has been extended in 2019, 2020 or 2021, the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) may offer to extend your agreement for a further year. It will be based on the criteria that was used in previous years and you must continue to meet these criteria. You should contact RPA to let us know of any changes to your circumstances.
If your agreement started in 2012 and is due to expire in 2022, Natural England (NE) will assess if it is suitable to be extended using the criteria below. NE will, where appropriate, recommend that RPA offer an extension to the agreement for a year.
Every year after that, RPA will consider whether to offer extensions to all holders of expiring agreements, depending on value for money.
Why HLS extensions are being proposed for 2022
RPA are offering HLS agreement extensions to deliver the following benefits:
- it will provide a simple way to maintain the environmental outcomes that the public has invested in over the last 10 years, where those outcomes meet the scheme expectations
- it will secure ongoing payments for farmers who are eligible for extensions that will deliver value for money
- it will be simpler to administer and is a useful short term measure in anticipation of the new Defra environmental land management schemes.
We have worked with Defra and NE to allow suitable HLS agreements to be extended, if they meet the criteria below.
Principles of HLS extensions
HLS agreement extensions can be offered where the current agreement already delivers the environmental outcomes expected and meets the requirements set out below.
If your agreement has a 2012 start date and it expires in 2022, NE will assess it based on environmental outcomes using the criteria below.
If you are not offered an extension for your agreement, RPA will let you know in time for you to apply for a new agreement through Countryside Stewardship (CS). Read about the Countryside Stewardship agreements you may apply for instead. You will need to apply using the standard eligibilities and priorities in place at that time.
If your agreement has already been extended in previous years, the criteria below will still apply.
Eligibility and regulation
- The HLS agreement must not have expired or been terminated on or before the date the extension is accepted by you and received by us
- You must want the agreement to be extended and agree to comply with the continuing rules
- There must not be a need for any further capital works to secure the effective delivery of the options under your agreement, during the extension period
- There must be no outstanding land transfers which cannot be completed before the date of extension - in this situation, as an agreement holder, you must make sure all necessary paperwork is complete before the agreement can be extended (including RLE1s)
- There must be no outstanding breaches related to the agreement that cannot be put right before the date of extension - in this situation, as an agreement holder, you must make sure you have responded to all requests for information from us and NE relating to the breach, and have taken any required action to put right the issues found
- There are no unmanaged areas of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) or Scheduled Monuments (SM) on your holding that need to be brought under management
- There must be no other non-compliances with the scheme rules
Environmental outcomes
Assessments of environmental benefits are based solely on the options in your current agreement. The NE adviser will complete a technical assessment to check the following before making a recommendation to offer an extension:
- the options in your current HLS agreement remain appropriate for the Environmental Stewardship (ES) priority target features on the holding
- at least 80% of the Priority Habitats (PH) on your holding (if applicable) are under appropriate, beneficial options
- the management prescriptions are being delivered at the point of assessment as set out in your HLS agreement and these options are capable of achieving the required outcomes, as set out in the indicators of success
- where SSSI land is included in the agreement, the current land management is still appropriate for the SSSI features and NE can give consent without amending the option choices or prescription details and without the need for additional capital works
If your agreement has less than 80% of the PH on the holding under option management in your agreement, it is unlikely you will be offered an extension. The expectation is that you should apply for CS Mid Tier or Higher Tier to bring the unmanaged PH into suitable options.
RPA will only consider an extension for these agreements if there are genuine practical or administrative barriers which would prevent the additional habitat from being managed under a CS agreement. Extension will not be available on holdings with unmanaged SSSI or SM that need to be under scheme options. In that situation you can apply for a Countryside Stewardship agreement.
Additional rules and conditions
The following rules and conditions will also apply to HLS extensions:
- you cannot use an extension offer to add, remove, or replace options in the current agreement
- permissive access options HN1-HN7 will be removed from the agreement before making the extension offer
- educational access items will be retained
- any incomplete capital works will be removed from the agreement
- extension is only available for HLS only, ELS/HLS, OELS/HLS and UELS/HLS agreements
- extension is not available on any agreement that has no HLS options remaining after any required amendments have been made to remove options that are no longer available, for example, removal of permissive access or woodland options, as described above
- if you have an agreement that has UB17 Stone Walling Restoration you will receive an ELS base map with the revised extension agreement documents - as the agreement holder, you must mark up the stone walling (maximum 40 metres annually) you will be restoring for this extension period on the map
- you will need to confirm you have management control for the extension period - this means you will need to supply a new supplementary land ownership and control form, countersigned by your landlord, with your acceptance declaration if there are any changes to management control under the landlord’s consent for the 2021 agreement year, or if your current arrangements will expire during the extension period
- you will need to supply a new Shared grazing and common land form with your declaration if there are any changes to the commons supplementary arrangements for the 2021 agreement year, or if your current arrangements will expire during the extension period - this includes the associated consultation with all commons rights holders
If you do not provide new documents to support your extended agreement, RPA will continue to use the most recent documents you submitted as part of your HLS agreement.
ELS boundary restoration options
If you have any of the following options in your agreement, you will receive an ELS base map with your revised extension agreement documents:
- UB14/OB14/EB14/UOB14: Hedgerow restoration
- UB15: Stone-faced hedgebank restoration
- UB16: Earth bank restoration
- UB17/UOB17: Stone wall restoration
You must mark up the length of boundary (maximum 40 metres annually) you will be restoring for this extension period on the map. You must retain the map for your records, as you may be asked to present it at inspection. You cannot include lengths of boundary previously restored under the agreement. If you do not have any additional lengths of boundary to be restored, contact RPA.
How woodland will be affected by HLS extensions
If you have woodland options HC7 and/or HC8 in your current agreement with a combined area greater than 3ha, these options will be removed from your extended agreement. The woodland parcels will remain in your extended agreement without HLS payments (ELS payments will continue if applicable). If the HC7/HC8 individual land parcels are larger than 0.5ha, but together are 3ha or less, then the HC7/HC8 can remain in the agreement.
However, if you wish to secure funding for ongoing management of these woodland parcels where HC7/HC8 have been removed from the agreement, you will need to do the following:
- To apply for CS Woodland Higher Tier you need a Forestry Commission (FC) approved woodland management plan (WMP). You can apply for CS funding to prepare the plan through the Woodland Management Planning Grant.
- Request the removal of those parcels from your extended HLS agreement by contacting RPA after FC have approved your WMP, or given approval in principle.
- Apply for a standalone Higher Tier Woodland Only agreement. If you do not already have a plan approved by FC, you should make your application in 2023 rather than 2022. This is because you need to allow for the time it takes to write a woodland management plan and get it approved (allow at least 7 weeks for FC to approve it).
Submit your draft plan no later than 31 December to allow enough time to get it approved and make a Higher Tier application. You should also allow for time to apply and receive any Woodland Management Planning Grant agreement if you are applying for funding.
Woodland creation options HC9 and HC10 will be extended.
Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)
If you are offered an HLS extension and you have a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on your land, you may need a new consent for the ongoing management activities on the SSSI. You will need to contact NE to get consent as soon as you receive the agreement extension documents from RPA. Instructions on how to do this will be provided in the extension documents you receive from RPA.
RPA cannot extend your agreement without the appropriate consent from NE, where this is required.
Educational access
Educational access options will be extended. You will need to continue to record and submit a record of these visits, as currently required under the terms of your agreement.
Greening and Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs)
Greening requirements have been removed from the Basic Payments Scheme (BPS) for 2022. This means that you do not need to consider the overlap of HLS options with EFAs.
What will happen next
NE will carry out an initial assessment to see if your agreement may be suitable for extension. If it is, a NE adviser will contact you to determine whether your agreement still meets the rules and continues to provide the environmental outcomes it was set up to deliver.
The adviser may arrange a site visit to confirm your agreement is suitable. A site visit may not be necessary if NE already has sufficient knowledge of your agreement. If your agreement includes SSSI land, a visit must be completed.
If you do not want to proceed with an extension, you can inform the adviser. You may apply for any of the Countryside Stewardship agreements instead.
If your current agreement meets the criteria, the NE adviser will recommend that RPA offer an extension to your agreement for one year. We expect NE to complete assessments and make recommendations by December 2021.
RPA will decide whether to extend your agreement and if suitable, will prepare an amended version of your agreement. To extend your agreement, RPA will remove any incomplete capital works and any options ineligible for extension. RPA will send you an extension offer with amended agreement documents, and a declaration for you to sign if you want to accept the extension.
You will need to sign and return the declaration with any relevant supporting documents so that RPA receive them by the date shown on the covering letter (usually 20 working days). We must receive the declaration by post – we can’t accept emailed declarations.
If your agreement started in 2009, 2010 or 2011 and has been extended once or more, provided you continue to meet the criteria, RPA will send you updated documents to offer you an extension to your agreement for a further year. You should contact RPA if there have been any changes to your circumstances. Also, consider whether any changes to your circumstances affect any consents you currently have, for example, SSSI consent.
You will need to sign and return the declaration and RPA must receive it by the date shown on the covering letter (usually 20 working days). We must receive the declaration by post – we can’t accept emailed declarations.
Also, include with the signed declaration any other consents and documents if required, for example:
RPA will record receipt of your signed declaration and your HLS agreement will continue until the new end date. You will need to submit an annual claim in the normal way. We’ll let you know when the claim form deadline is announced.
What to do if you disagree with RPA’s decision about your agreement
If you’re unhappy with a decision or service you’ve had from RPA, you can email, write or call us. You will need to raise any query as soon as possible. This is because it may not be possible to extend your agreement after the expiry end date of your HLS agreement, regardless of the final decision. For more information read our complaints procedure.
Last updated 1 March 2022 + show all updates
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Update to HC7/HC8 text in the How woodland will be affected section.
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First published.