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The application window for Tranche 4 of the Tier 1 Farm Business Improvement Scheme closes at 4pm on Friday 11 November, so there is limited time left to get all the necessary supporting evidence in place.
“The only part of the application you can’t do yourself is the bank letter. Don’t leave it to the last minute. Get on the ball, and get your bank letter there,” advised Philip Cargill from scheme delivery agent, Countryside Services, during an Ulster Farmers’ Union webinar on Monday night.
Tier 1 covers the purchase of equipment costing between £5,000 and £30,000, with a maximum grant of £12,000.
As in previous tranches, applications are scored dependent on the item chosen (Band 1 items get 46 marks), value for money (maximum of 39 points), educational attainment (5 marks) and age (5 marks if 40 years or less on 23 September 2022).
In this tranche there are also 5 marks available for a farm business that has not received a Letter of Offer in previous tranches of the scheme.
Farmers that claimed the full £12,000 grant in Tranches 1 and 2 can apply again to Tranche 4. Successful applicants to Tranche 3, are also eligible, but the total grant applied for must not exceed £12,000 across Tranches 3 and 4.
With applicants ranked by points score, those businesses which select Band 1 items, and opt for high marks related to value-for-money, are more likely to be successful.
“The last time around quite a few went for the full 39 marks because they felt the scheme was going to be over-subscribed,” acknowledged Andrew Kerr from Countryside Services. That effectively means a lower grant rate is applied for (every 1% below the reference price gets 1.95 marks).
He described the decision to maximise value for money as a judgement call, although he pointed out that with upwards of £14m paid out in Tranche 3, a lot of farmers have already benefited from the scheme. That could mean less applications this time around.
He also does not think there will be another tranche of Tier 1, although if there are unspent monies across other Rural Development Programmes, this could be re-directed towards the scheme (as happened in Tranche 3 when the original budget doubled from £7.5m to £15m).
Under 40
Some farm businesses might be in a position to bring in a young farmer under 40 to claim an additional 5 marks. They have to be named on the farm business, and submit the application for Tier 1, but don’t have to be head of holding.
Where a business change form (BC1) is yet to be completed it should be submitted to DAERA by the closing date of 11 November.
After this closing date, all applications will be placed in rank order, starting with the highest marks, with letters of offer released in stages over the coming weeks.
“We will be starting to release letters of offer towards the end of November, through December with the later ones released in January,” confirmed Kerr.
An applicant has 28 days to accept the offer, and six months from the date of the letter to purchase equipment and make a claim.
However, with long lead times on various items, there is a recognition that an extension may be required in some cases. No financial transactions should be made before the Letter of Offer is received.
All the relevant scheme information can be found at www.countrysideservices.com
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