25/05/10 ~ Uplands Transitional Payment - Eligibility Checklist
Are you eligible to claim Uplands Transitional Payment?
The Uplands Transitional Payment (UTP) must have been claimed on the 2010 SP5 form and the deadline for submission of that form without penalty was 17th May 2010. You must have indicated on the 2010 SP5 form if you wish to claim UTP. Some farmers may have indicated a wish to claim UTP 2011 but may not be eligible. Where the 2010 SP5 form has already been submitted with a UTP claim, it may be advisable to check your UTP eligibility by using the list below. If you find that you are not eligible for UTP you may withdraw your UTP claim at any time without penalty by writing to the RPA. If you find you are ineligible for UTP you may want to look at whether you are eligible for entry into Uplands Entry Level Stewardship (Uplands ELS) instead, as this is a scheme that has been introduced by Natural England to replace the Hill Farm Allowance (HFA). Further information about Uplands ELS is available on the Natural England website www.naturalengland.org.uk.
You must be able to answer YES to all of the questions below in order to be eligible to claim UTP:
o I submitted a valid claim for HFA 2010.
o I farm at least one parcel of SDA land which will be in a Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) or Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) agreement on 1 January 2011. This CSS/ESA agreement does not have to be in my name and not all of my UTP claim has to be under a CSS/ESA agreement.
o I farm at least 10 ha of eligible Severely Disadvantaged land (SDA) (including SDA commons).
o I keep eligible breeding sheep and or cattle (see booklet for retention dates and breeds).
o The forage land I farm is available to be grazed for a period of 7 continuous months, on a date starting between 1 January and 31 March 2010.
o The forage land I farm is available for me for at least 4 of those 7 months.
o I follow cross compliance across all my holding.
o I agree to keep at least 10 ha of land in the SDA in agricultural production continuously for 5 years from the date of my first Hill Farm Allowance payment.
o The land I am using to claim UTP is not and will not be entered into an Uplands ELS agreement by me or any other person until my ESA or CSS agreement expires..
Full details of any eligibility rules can be found in the UTP booklet found at www.rpa.gov.uk
If you are still unclear as to whether or not you are eligible, please refer to the UTP booklet (in particular Annex C which details some useful land occupation scenarios that may need to be considered), the FAQs on our website or ring us on 0845 6037777 and if we cannot immediately answer your question, we will refer you to a member of the UTP team who will call you back to discuss your circumstances.
Page published: 24 October 2011