1 Do your application on time

Doing your Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) application on time ensures no last-minute rush and allows extra time to source additional land, lease in or out entitlements and to make well-informed decisions regarding your application.

If any changes have been made to your trading structure, eg going into a limited company, extra time will be needed to allow for the re-registration of your herd number, transferring of entitlements and for getting well-informed advice from the relevant professionals. Transfers of entitlement applications can now be completed online, which eases the pressure on submissions close to the deadline.

2 Online or manual form

BPS applications must now be completed online for the following farmers:

  • Those with a Greening requirement.
  • Those in registered farm partnerships.
  • National Reserve (NR) and Young Farmer Scheme (YFS) applicants.
  • Organic Farming Scheme and/or GLAS participants.

    • Submission of online applications has benefits for both farmers and their advisers, and has proved very successful and efficient. Information can also be accessed regarding entitlement values from 2015 to 2019, previous years’ nitrates information and BPS applications as far back as 2006.

    Users can follow several simple and easy steps through the online application. Inbuilt warning signs appear if the correct steps are not followed through the online process. For example, if you applied for ANC in 2016, and may not have ticked the box to apply for ANC in 2017, a warning sign appears on screen. In 2016, 78% of BPS applications were completed online. In 2018, all BPS application must be done online.

    3 Maximising your payment

    The reintroduction of the NR payments in 2017, along with the existing YFS payments, gives young qualified farmers a financial boost when setting up in farming.

    Young farmers in a registered farm partnership, company or joint herd number are eligible for these payments but must meet the qualifying criteria.

    Leasing and buying in entitlements may also be used to increase income from the 2017 BPS. Farmers who have surplus land to entitlements have the option of leasing in or buying entitlements from those applicants who do not have enough land to claim their full payments. This is an opportunity to earn more income from your BPS application in 2017.

    4 Ticking the right boxes

    Both paper and online applications must be submitted before 15 May 2017. Application for BPS also acts as the application for the following schemes:

  • Area of Natural Constraint (ANC) and the Areas of Specific Constraints (Islands) Scheme.
  • Protein Aid Scheme.
  • Agri Environmental Options Scheme (AEOS).
  • Green Low Carbon Emissions Agri Environmental Scheme (GLAS).
  • Natura 2000 Scheme.
  • Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP).
  • Organic Farming Scheme (OFS).
  • Young Farmer Scheme/National Reserve.

    • Ticking the correct boxes is essential to ensuring that all relevant payments are applied for.

    Check the farm maps to ensure that all eligible available land is accounted for to claim Basic Payment. With the most up-to-date imagery, the accuracy of exclusion areas within parcels is very accurate, and rules out potential errors being made in applications.

    5 Advice and insurance

    Completing the form with the help of an agricultural consultant/adviser is an opportunity to obtain the best advice regarding the BPS application. It may be an opportunity to discuss eligibility for the other schemes or other issues in your farm business.

    Consultants/advisers submit hundreds of applications every year and their experience should not be underestimated for the benefit of your farm business. It also acts as an inexpensive insurance policy for the farmer where the responsibility for a correct application is shared with the adviser/consultant.

    Therefore, ensure your consultant/adviser is insured.

    Key dates for the 2017 EU BPS/Greening Payment

    1 January & 31 December 2017

  • Start and end dates of the 2017 scheme year.

    • 1 January to 1 July 2017

  • Ecological Focus Area (EFA) period for EFA fallow land.

    • 1 January to 1 December 2017

  • EFA period for hedges and buffer strips.

    • 15 May 2017 (midnight)

  • Deadline for 2017 BPS, YFS and Transfers of Entitlements. Deadline for DAFM to receive evidence to prove active farmer.

    • 16 May to 15 July 2017

  • Crop diversification period and EFA period for nitrogen fixing crops.

    • 31 May 2017

  • Deadline for amendments to applications without penalties. Land you use to claim BPS in 2017 must be at your disposal.

    • 9 June 2017

  • Late application deadline.

    • 12 June 2017

  • Final possible date for notification of preliminary check.

    • 19 June 2017

  • Final date for preliminary check response.

    • 15 September 2017

  • EFA catch crops established by this date.

    • 16 October 2017

  • Advance payment commences.

    • 1 December 2017

  • Balancing payment commences.