Rural Payments and Services

For recent changes to this guidance, please see the bottom of the page.

Note:

With effect from the 2021 round, any reference to EU legislation is to be read as referring to the version of the legislation as it exists in domestic law.

If your application to join the scheme is successful, you will be subject to our inspections programme. This is based on the European Commission’s regulatory requirements, which are provided below:

• under Article 32 of the EC Control Regulation 809/2014 there is a requirement that at least three per cent of beneficiaries who have annual recurrent commitments (agri-environment and forestry – except establishment) under the Scottish Rural Development Regulation (SRDP) must be selected for an on-the-spot inspection each year.

• under Article 50 of the EC Control Regulation 809/2014 there is a requirement that at least three per cent of the public expenditure on capital items declared to the Commission each year and three per cent of the public expenditure over the whole programming period must be selected for an on-the-spot inspection each year. These capital items will be inspected prior to payment of the final claim.

• under Article 48 of the EC Control Regulation 809/2014 there is a requirement that there is a 100 per cent administrative check (invoices) on all investment operations (capital items).

• under article 52 of the EC Control Regulation 809/2014 there is a requirement that at least one per cent of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) expenditure under a five-year commitment be selected for an ex-post inspection (after the final payment).

As part of the on-the-spot compliance inspections, Cross Compliance checks will be carried out on one per cent of all beneficiaries of agri-environment (including organic farming), animal welfare, first afforestation on agricultural land and forest-environment payments. Find out more about Cross Compliance.

It is a condition of entry to this scheme that you must allow us to inspect your holding to check that the scheme rules are being met.

Inspections to check compliance will be carried out on a percentage of claims, chosen by risk analysis, prior to payment. Inspection visits will be co-ordinated by the relevant organisations to help reduce disruption at your farm or business.

Ex-post inspections for capital items are designed to ensure that the item is still there and being used for the purposes it was funded. Such checks may be undertaken at any time during the monitoring period, which is five years from the final payment.

Award holders are therefore required:

• not to make any modification or change that will substantially affect the nature, usage or location of the capital item purchased
• not to sell, exchange, give away or otherwise dispose of the capital item purchased

without the prior written approval of the scheme administrators.