Rural Payments and Services

This guidance explains the Future Farming Investment Scheme (FFIS). Please read it carefully.

The application window will open on 14 July 2025 and close on 22 August 2025.

The indicative budget allocation for this application window is £14 million. FFIS is competitive and you may not receive the funding you apply for.

FFIS is a capital grant scheme designed to help farmers and crofters in Scotland improve the environmental performance of their agricultural business. The scheme offers upfront funding to ensure all agricultural businesses have access to capital support to allow them to carry out capital investment(s) that will help deliver this.

This guidance explains the aims of FFIS, who and what is eligible, the information needed to apply for the scheme and the evidence you will be required to provide if your application is successful, and you are awarded a grant.

The schemes objectives and expected outcomes are to:

• improve business efficiency and sustainability;
• protect, restore or enhance the environment;
• reduce greenhouse gas emissions and/or
• mitigate the effect of climate change.

Please Remember: FFIS support can only be used for on farm/croft capital investments that will deliver at least one of the schemes objectives and expected outcomes.

• applications can only be submitted online using the Manage Application and Claims service

• all communications about your application will be done by email. You must have a valid and up to date preferred communication email address on RPS;

• the grant you apply for can cover up to 100% of the capital investment costs;

• if your application is successful, you will be made an Offer of Grant and if you accept the offer your grant will be paid;

• you will have nine months from being made the Offer of Grant to purchase all items listed in part 2 of Schedule 1 of the Offer of Grant letter and provide evidence of carrying out your investment to SGRPID

• capital investments must be retained for a period of at least six years from the date the Offer of Grant was made

• capital investments must not be used for agricultural contracting activities

• capital investments must be new and be paid for by the business or the person named on the Offer of Grant

• crofters cannot apply for FFIS support for the same type of investment that has already been approved but not yet claimed through CAGS or apply for CAGS support for the same type of investment that has been approved for FFIS funding in 2025;

• your payment will be recovered if:
  • you are found to have breached any of the grant conditions and/or provided false information on your application;
  • you fail to provide satisfactory evidence of capital investment within nine months of being made the Offer of Grant;
  • the business or person named in the Offer of Grant did not purchase the capital investments;
  • you purchased any capital investments before the Offer of Grant was accepted;
  • all the capital investments are not present on your holding during an inspection;
  • you have not purchased all the capital investments listed in part 2 of Schedule 1 in your offer of grant letter;
  • a capital investment does not meet the scheme objectives;
  • it is found that any capital investment is used for contracting purposes

A helpful check list of things you must do and must do for this scheme are provided below.

You are eligible to apply if:

• you are a farmer or crofter;
• your agricultural business meets the legal definition of a “farmer” that undertakes an “agricultural activity” as defined in Annex H;
• your agricultural business is registered and approved for funding with SGRPID (new businesses can submit a FFIS application before their business has been approved, however an Offer of Grant will not be made until eligibility for funding has been approved by SGRPID);
• your agricultural business submitted a Single Application Form (SAF) ) to claim funding by 15th of May (i.e. didn’t submit a SAF to only tell us about your land);
• the total area of eligible agricultural land (excluding common grazing shares); declared on your SAF on the 15th of May was greater than 3 hectares;
• if you claimed BPS, and your agricultural business declared at least two of the Whole Farm Plan audits and plans on your SAF on the 15th of May and
• if you did not claim BPS, but are claiming under other support schemes where WFP compliance was not a requirement you can still apply and if your application is successful, you must have least two of the Whole Farm Plan audits and plans by the time you submit your evidence of carrying out your investment

You are not eligible if you:

• are a non departmental public bodies;
• are a local Authority;
• are a crown body;
• are a group of farmers or crofters (including producer organisations/common grazing committee);
• let all your land out;
• are an equine business (including grazing horses);
• are an agricultural contractor or
• are an agricultural business that provided false or misleading information in a capital grant application/claim within the last five years.

Please Be Aware: Crofters cannot apply for FFIS support for the same type of investment that has already been approved but not yet claimed through CAGS or apply for CAGS support for the same type of investment that has been approved for FFIS funding in 2025.

Step 1 - read the scheme guidance carefully, ensure you are eligible to apply and understand what you can and cannot use the grant support for, if you are unsure about anything please email FFIS@gov.scot or contact your local SGRPID Area Office.

Step 2 - consider what your business priorities are against the schemes objectives:

• improve business efficiency and sustainability;
• protect, restore or enhance the environment;
• reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• mitigate the effect of climate change.

Step 3 – having identified which of the schemes objectives are your business priorities, think about what on farm/croft capital investment would help you achieve this.

Step 4 – find out how much your on farm/croft capital investment will cost and decide how much support you would need to allow your business to invest in it (but do not order or pay a deposit) and check if any permissions or consents are required.

Step 5 - ensure you have a username and password for Rural Payments and Services and you have an up to date business preferred communication email address registered on Rural Payments and Services (RPS). If not, update it, as we will send all communication about the scheme to you using this email address.

Step 6 – submit your FFIS application by 22 August 2025. Remember to apply early and only apply for the amount of money you need to carry out the investment. If you want an Agent to apply on your behalf, ensure they have the FFIS mandate on RPS.

Step 7 – if your application is accepted, SGRPID will issue you with an Offer of Grant contract that you will need to read carefully and accept online. Once you have accepted the contract, SGRPID will pay you your grant to allow you to carry out the investment(s) you identified in your application, ensure SGRPID have your up to date bank details.

Step 8 – use the FFIS grant to purchase all investments listed in part 2 of Schedule 1 in your offer of grant letter, you will have nine months from the date the Offer of Grant was made to do this.

Step 9 – confirm that you have carried out the investment within nine months of the Offer of Grant being made. You will need to provide SGRPID with:

• invoices to show how much investments cost;
• proof of payment (such as bank statements) from the business or person named on the Offer of Grant letter referencing payment of item(s) to confirm expenditure occurred and when it occurred and
• geo-tagged photographs to show the investment is on your farm or croft.

What the grants are for

We are offering you the opportunity to choose the most appropriate on farm/croft capital investment for your agricultural business if the capital investment delivers on at least one of the following scheme objectives and the investment is eligible:

• improve business efficiency and sustainability;
• protect, restore or enhance the environment and/or
• reduce greenhouse gas emissions and/or
• mitigate the effect of climate change.

Please Remember:

• only apply for the amount of support your business needs to carry out the investment to allow more farmers and crofters to benefit from this scheme.
• only brand new items are eligible.
• only investments made after the acceptance of the grant offer are eligible.
• only items purchased through a supplier or manufacturer are eligible.
• only investments purchased by the business or the person named on the Offer of Grant are eligible.
• investments must be carried out and evidence provided to SGRPID within nine months of being made the Offer of Grant.

You will find examples of the type of investments that will be eligible for support through this scheme at the examples of eligible investments section of this guidance.

You will find the type of investments and expenditure that are not eligible for support through this scheme at the ineligible investments and expenditure section of this guidance.

How much money can you apply for

The maximum level of support you will be entitled to apply for will be based on the total area of eligible agricultural land (excluding common grazing shares) that you declared on your Single Application Form on the 15th of May as shown in the table below. There is no minimum amount of support that you can apply for.

Any previous participation in the Sustainable Agriculture Capital Grant Scheme (SACGS) or Crofting Agricultural Grant Scheme (CAGS) will not affect your ability to apply for the maximum grant.

Only one application is allowed per agricultural business/Business Reference Number (BRN) per funding round.

As the budget for this scheme is limited and to ensure as many farmers and crofters can benefit from it, you should only apply for the amount of support you need to allow you to carry out your investment.

Please Be Aware: You will be required to provide evidence of investment expenditure within nine months of being made the Offer of Grant and if the eligible expenditure is less than the award made, you do not buy all of the investments you applied for or you fail to provide satisfactory evidence you will be required to repay either the full grant or the difference with interest.

If you are required to pay all or some of the grant payment made to you, but fail to do so, we will recover any amount owed from any support schemes you claim (BPS, LFASS, VCS etc.) until any repayments for this scheme have been made.

We need to increase the rate of change required in Scottish farming practice by all farmers and crofters to meet Scottish Government outcomes in relation to greenhouse gas emission reductions, climate change mitigation and nature targets.

We know the cost of production has continued to rise but you are not always seeing the same return for the products you are producing, which often limits your ability to carry out on farm/croft capital investments, which deliver Scottish Government priorities.

Normally grant payments made by the Scottish Government are paid once you have incurred the cost of purchasing grant supported items.

However, through this scheme we are offering you access to capital support upfront to ensure you are able to carry out the investment, which will help your business deliver on the Scottish Governments objectives, without adding additional stress and burdens to your businesses cashflow.

The amount you apply for can cover up to 100% of the investment cost. However, as the budget for this scheme is limited and to ensure as many farmers and crofters as possible benefit from it, you should only apply for the amount of support your business really needs to allow you to carry out your investment. The more you apply for means there will be less opportunity for other farmers and crofters to benefit from this scheme.

The remainder of the investment costs must be paid for by the agricultural business or person named in the Offer of Grant, with money from private sources like savings, bank loan or credit card. Items purchased using Hire Purchase (HP) or Leasing are not eligible. You also cannot fund the remainder of investment costs with other public funds.

Ineligible costs

The following are not eligible costs:

The items purchased using FFIS support must only be used on your farm or croft and must be used for the purpose they were intended for at least six years from the date the Offer of Grant was made.

Once you have carried out your investment you will need to submit evidence of what was purchased and how much it cost within nine months of being made the Offer of Grant.

Ineligible methods of payment

Payment for goods purchased using FFIS support must be made in full for the value of the goods shown on the invoice by the business or person named on the Offer of Grant award letter.

The following methods of payment are not eligible:

Ineligible investments and expenditure

We are giving you the opportunity to choose the most appropriate on farm/croft capital investment for your agricultural business as long as the chosen investment delivers on at least one of the schemes objectives below and that the capital investment is retained in agricultural use by your business for a period of at least six years from the date of the Offer of Grant.

• improve business efficiency and sustainability;
• protect, restore or enhance the environment;
• reduce greenhouse gas emissions and/or
• mitigate the effect of climate change.

The following (although not exhaustive) are examples of the sort of investment you may consider appropriate for your business to invest in:

You can check that your planned investment(s) are eligible before you apply by emailing FFIS@gov.scot or contacting your local SGRPID Area Office.

Please Be Aware: before applying for FFIS funding you must check if a consent or licence is required for the work you propose, and this must be in place before you carry out the work being funded through FFIS. You should contact the relevant organisation for advice as soon as possible.

It is your responsibility to ensure that you have the required permissions before carrying out the work being funded through FFIS.

How to apply

Applications are made online via the ‘Manage Applications and Claims Portal’ which can be accessed from the FFIS guidance page on RPS.

To submit an application you will need to:

• be registered for funding with SGRPID and
• have an active Rural Payments and Services account.
• have an up to date preferred communication email address on Rural Payments and Services.

If you are not registered or do not have an RPS account or do not know your RPS account login details, you should visit Rural Payments and Services, for more information on what you need to do.

Agents and Business Representatives will require to be mandated to submit FFIS applications and investment evidence on behalf of farm and croft businesses.

We will send all notifications about this scheme via email. You must ensure the preferred communications email address SGRPID have for your business on RPS is correct. If it isn’t you must update it before applying as we will send all communication about the scheme to you using this email address.

Online application should take no more than 15 minutes to complete, unfortunately you will be unable to save your application and return to it later.

When to apply

The application window will open on 14 July 2025 and close on 22 August 2025 .

The scheme is competitive, we recommend applying as early as possible.

Please Remember: You must not order or buy any of the items before you have made and accepted your Offer of Grant award. Doing this will make your application ineligible and if this is established at a subsequent check you will be required to repay grant support that was paid to you with interest.

What information will you be required to provide

You will be required to answer questions relating to your agricultural business including:

• how long your business has been trading;
• if the head of the agricultural business was under 41 years of age on the 15th of May in the year of application.
• what your business occupancy status is;
• the total area of eligible agricultural land declared on your SAF (excluding common grazing shares) on the 15th of May;
• if your business is island based;
• if you are a farmer or crofter;
• if you are a registered and certified organic producer
• which of the Vision for Agriculture priorities your current agricultural activities deliver;
• what your main agricultural activity is;
• what on farm/croft capital investment you plan to use the funding for;
• how much your capital investment costs;
• how much capital grant support are you applying for and
• what outcomes the grant support will help your agricultural business deliver.

If you enter information which is incorrect or in the wrong format, a prompt will appear telling you how to correct this. You will not be able to continue until you have added the correct information.

You will be prompted to review the answers you have supplied after completing each section of the application and before you submit your application and will be able to change any of your answers before you submit your application.

If you submit your application and realise you have made a mistake before the application window deadline, you can ask to withdraw your application and submit a new application.

Please Remember: Knowingly or recklessly making a false statement to obtain payment of aid to yourself or anyone else, risks prosecution.

You also risk the loss of all the aid which you have claimed and be prevented from claiming, or applying for future aid schemes including BPS, LFASS and VCS.

Withdrawing an application

You can withdraw your application at any time before an Offer of Grant has been made.

If you wish to withdraw your application, please email FFIS@gov.scot detailing your reasons for withdrawal. You should include your Business Name, Main Location Code and Business Reference Number in your email.

If you withdraw your application and the application window is still open, you can submit a new application.

Application assessment

FFIS is competitive and you are not guaranteed to be offered a grant. Once you submit your application, it will be checked for accuracy and eligibility by SGRPID, this will include checks against our debt register. If your business has an outstanding debt, it may mean we are unable to offer you a grant. If you are unsure if your business has an outstanding debt with SGRPID please send an email to FFIS@gov.scot.

If you claimed BPS, we will check that you declared at least two of the WFP audits and plans on your Single Application Form. If you did not have at least two your entire FFIS application will be rejected.

With a limited budget there is potential for the scheme to be oversubscribed in terms of support requested versus scheme budget. To allow SGRPID to manage the scheme budget, applications will be scored. The total score each application achieves will help us prioritise funding if the scheme is over-subscribed.

All applications will be scored and ranked. The purpose of this scoring is to allow SGRPID to rank applications against the funding available. A threshold score will be set based on the available budget and the highest scoring applications will be offered grant award letters.

Where applications have equal scores, the lowest value application will be selected first. Where applications have equal scores and are of the same value and rank on the available budget threshold, SGRPID reserves the right to either select or reject applications, depending on budget availability.

Please Remember: Knowingly or recklessly making a false statement to obtain payment of aid to yourself or anyone else, risks prosecution.

You also risk the loss of all the aid which you have claimed and be prevented from claiming, or applying for future aid schemes including; BPS, LFASS and VCS.

We will prioritise grant support to applications that deliver the best outcomes of the scheme.

Priority will be given to:

• new entrants;
• young farmers;
• small agricultural businesses;
• tenants;
• island based agricultural businesses;
• organically registered and certified businesses;
• investments in electronic identification (EID) equipment and
• investments in water efficiency

When will you find out if your application was successful

We will make a decision as soon as possible after the closing date of the application window. We can’t provide updates on individual applications until they have all been assessed and scored.

Please Remember: You must not order or buy any of the items before you have accepted your Offer of Grant award. Doing this will make your application ineligible and if this is established at a subsequent check you will be required to repay grant support that was paid to you with interest.

Successful applications - accepting your grant award

If your application is successful, we will send you an email to confirm an Offer of Grant has been made.

You will need to log into the Manage Applications and Claims Service Portal to view the Offer of Grant and grant terms and conditions.

You should read the terms and conditions of the grant offer carefully.

If you are content with the offer, you must confirm you accept the offer within 14 calendar days of the date of the letter. Failure to accept your offer will result in the withdrawal of the grant offer.

Once you have confirmed your grant offer acceptance, we will issue your grant award payment, and you will be able to order and purchase the item(s) listed in part 2 of Schedule 1 in your offer of grant letter that you identified in your application as delivering the schemes objectives for your business.

You must purchase in full, take delivery of (and install if required) all of the investments listed in part 2 of Schedule 1 in your offer of grant letter and provide evidence to SGRPID within nine months of the date of the Offer of Grant letter, please see the what you must do after you receive your grant payment section of this guidance for more information on what you will need to do.

Please Remember: You cannot order, pay a deposit for or buy your items until you have confirmed your acceptance of the Offer of Grant.

Varying your capital investment

You must purchase all the capital items listed in part 2 of Schedule 1 in your offer of grant letter, failing to do so without the written approval of SGRPID will require you to repay all the FFIS grant paid to you.

However, we may agree changes to the capital items listed in part 2 of Schedule 1 in your offer of grant letter. We will consider amendment requests on a case-by-case basis. Requests should be sent to FFIS@gov.scot.

Unsuccessful applications

With a limited budget there is potential for the scheme to be oversubscribed in terms of support requested versus scheme budget. If your application is unsuccessful, SGRPID will send you an email to confirm this.

You cannot ask for a review if your application is unsuccessful because the scheme is oversubscribed and did not meet the minimum application score threshold or because your business has an existing debt balance.

Payment of grant

Once you have accepted your Offer of Grant, grant funding will be paid directly into the GBP bank account you have registered with SGRPID.

It is your responsibility to make sure a valid and active bank account for your business has been registered with us before submitting your FFIS application. Failure to do so will result in your grant payment being delayed.

We aim to pay grants within 30 working days of you accepting your grant offer. If there are any issues, it may take longer.

What you must do after you receive your grant payment

If your grant application is successful and you’ve confirmed that you have accepted the grant terms and conditions and payment has been received, you will be required to provide evidence of carrying out all of the capital investments listed in Part 2 of Schedule 1 of the Offer of Grant letter within nine months of the date of the letter. You will do this using the Manage Applications and Claims Portal, we will send you an email when you are able to do this.

You will be required to provide information relating to each investment. You will be required to:

• explain why you chose each farm/croft based capital investment as important for your agricultural business (i.e. Carbon Audit recommendation, to improve animal health etc.).
• confirm which of the scheme outcomes each investment delivered/will deliver.
• explain the business benefits delivered/expected to be delivered from the investment.
• the date investment was purchased.
• the amount paid for each investment.
• serial numbers for equipment purchased.

You will also be required to upload the following supporting evidence:

• geotagged photographs of the investment(s) including serial numbers for equipment.
• suppliers invoices that detail the items purchased and serial numbers.
• proof of payment (such as bank statements) from the business or person named on the Offer of Grant letter referencing payment of item(s) to confirm expenditure occurred and when it occurred.

A geo-tagged photograph includes location information within the photograph data. Most mobile phones with an internet connection and a camera will record GPS coordinates automatically. They also record the date and time the photograph was taken. Detailed guidance on taking geo-tagged is available at Annex E.

Each individual item, its serial number and its cost needs to be clearly identified on the invoice. Detailed guidance on the information required to be shown on invoices is available at Annex C.

If you breach the terms and conditions of the grant award the grant payment will be recovered with interest.

For example:

• if investments are less than the grant award made, we will recover the difference with interest.
• If you do not purchase all the capital investments listed in part 2 of Schedule 1 of the Offer of Grant.
• if a capital investment is not listed in part 2 of Schedule 1 of the Offer of Grant and have not received written approval of the Scottish Government.
• if no investment was carried out.
• if an ineligible item was purchased or ineligible expenditure was incurred, we will recover all grant monies paid with interest.
• if any expenditure occurred before the date, you accepted the Offer of Grant, we will recover all grant monies paid with interest.
• investment was not paid for by the business or person named on the Offer of Grant letter we will recover all grant monies paid with interest.

Please Be Aware: If you are required to repay any of your FFIS, but fail to do so, we will recover FFIS support from any support scheme payments that you may be due (BPS and Greening, LFASS, VCS etc.).

SGRPID must enforce the Future Farming Investment Scheme rules.

Your grant funding award may be selected for a physical on farm/croft inspection up to six years from the date the Offer of Grant was made.

All the details in your application and the declarations you made in submitting the application, the evidence of investment and a physical inspection of the investments you made will be checked at this inspection.

SGRPID will try to ensure that visits cause you the minimum of disruption, but some checks require visits to be unannounced, which means it may not be possible to give you notice. You may be subject to more than one visit during a calendar year.

Please be Aware: If you refuse to allow a visit or obstruct an SGRPID officer or fail to give reasonable assistance, we may recover payments, and you may be prosecuted.

Unacceptable behaviour

SGRPID officials, individuals or organisations carrying out duties on behalf of the Scottish Government, should not be subjected to aggressive, abusive or offensive behaviour or unreasonable demands and persistence from applicants or their representatives.

Please be Aware: Unacceptable behaviour may lead to the withdrawal of payments or the rejection of future applications.

Capital investments made with grant funding must be retained in agricultural use by your business, operational and in good repair for a period of six years from the date the Offer of Grant was made. They must also be used for the same purpose as set out in the original application, for six years (or for their useful life if this is less than six years and correct maintenance has been carried out) from the date of being made the Offer of Grant. We will recover some or all of the grant if you breach the grant agreement during that period.

Where an item is principally employed out with agricultural purposes, you will be required to repay all of the monies received as part of the FFIS grant award with interest to be recovered at a rate of 2 per cent per annum above the Bank of England base lending rate prevailing at the time of the written demand.

As part of the Scheme requirements officials from the Scottish Government and their representatives may require access to your property to inspect the items at any reasonable time within this six year period.

You must notify SGRPID in advance of:

• replacing or upgrading any of the grant funded items;
• any changes in the ownership of the business that applied for grant;
• any changes in the ownership of the grant funded items;
• the business or grant funded enterprise / activity ceasing to trade or fundamentally changing the nature of its activities.

If any grant funded assets are sold, become redundant, or cease to be used for the purpose for which they were grant funded, the grant will be recovered on a pro-rata basis. This will be effective for six years from the date the Offer of Grant was made.

We may allow the investment to be transferred to the new owner or require you to repay the grant to the Scottish Government. However, in all circumstances you should contact your local SGRPID Area Office for further advice in advance if the business changes ownership.

Monitoring

It is a requirement that all grant awards are monitored and the effect the grant funded items have had on your business is evaluated.

We will monitor that the items are delivering the schemes objectives for a period of six years from the date the Offer of Grant was made. When requested, you will be required to provide monitoring information regarding the investment.

You must allow officials from SGRPID, or their representatives, to inspect the items purchased with grant support within this six-year period.

Annual site visits will be made on a percentage of the projects approved within six years following to ensure the applicant still has and is benefiting from the capital items purchased with the grant and that the business is performing as expected.

It will be a requirement of the grant award that capital items purchased with the aid of a grant must be kept on your holding, operational and in good repair and used for the same purpose as set out in the original application for at least six years from the date of being made the Offer of Grant as set out in the grant award letter.

Failure to return any monitoring report forms or poor performance of projects may result in recovery action.

Record keeping

You must keep all records and information you need to evidence that you have provided complete and accurate information and have complied with your undertakings for six years from the date you were made the Offer of Grant.

You will also be required to:

• supply SGRPID with any information about your Future Farming Investment Scheme Offer of Grant letter and supply that information within the period determined by SGRPID
• make available to SGRPID, its authorised persons or its agents, records, accounts, receipts and other information including access to computer data relating to your Future Farming Investment Scheme grant application and Offer of Grant letter. Permit SGRPID to remove any such document or record to take copies or extracts from them
• retain all invoices, receipts, and accounts and any other relevant documents relating to the grant for at least seven years from the date of payment. This is an HMRC requirement to retain documentation

There are no grounds for review at the application stage.

If you are not satisfied with a subsequent decision we have made on review of evidence you supplied concerning your investment, you may wish to ask us for a review.

When reviewing a case, we can only consider the information that was originally submitted and will not consider new additional documentation.

A request for review must be submitted to your local SGRPID Area Office in writing (including your case reference number) within 14 days of the date on the decision document.

The review request will be considered by an approving officer who was not involved in the original decision. We will respond in writing within 28 days and this will either confirm, amend, or alter our original decision, and explain what the implications of the new decision will be.

The EU State aid rules, which were developed and adopted to support the EU ‘Single Market’, no longer apply to subsidies granted in the UK.

All agricultural subsidies now fall under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) rules and follow a notification process coordinated by the UK Co-ordinating Body.

Funding provided through FFIS is classed as Minimal Financial Assistance, which is a type of subsidy control exemption and is defined in Chapter 2 of Part 3 of the UK Subsidy Control Act 2022.

The MFA provisions in the Act allow small amounts of funding, up to a financial threshold of £315,000, to be awarded to an enterprise within an applicable period of up to 3 financial years. This means that no enterprise can receive more than this amount in the applicable period.

The Act defines a financial year as a period of 12 months ending on 31 March. The applicable 3-year period is the elapsed part of the current financial year (i.e. from 1 April), and the previous two financial years immediately preceding the current financial year.

The only agricultural support scheme that SGRPID have operated in the applicable period that used MFA was the 2023 Agricultural Floodbank Repair Scheme.

If you have received any other public support since 1 April 2023, you will need to check if it used MFA.

Please Be Aware: As part of the application process you will need to confirm that you understand that funding through this scheme will count towards the Minimal Financial Assistance (MFA) threshold for your business and that receipt of the support through this scheme, means your business will not exceed the MFA threshold specified in section 36(1) of the Subsidy Control Act 2022 for your business.

From 1 April 2024 a condition of receiving agricultural grants, requires all beneficiaries to pay at least the real Living Wage and provide appropriate channels for effective workers’ voice.

If your application is successful, there will be conditions included in your Offer of Grant award letter that you must agree to if you wish to accept the grant offer. These conditions will stipulate that, if you have employees, then you are required to confirm that you pay at least the real Living Wage to all staff aged 16 and over (including apprentices) who are directly employed by your business, and that all staff have access to effective workers’ voice channel(s).

It will be a condition of the grant award that you check whether any intended sub-contractors doing the work also pay the real Living Wage (if they have employees) and that you will only engage someone who does.

You will need to retain appropriate evidence of complying with Fair Work First requirements within your own business as well as any contact with any sub-contractors to confirm their compliance.

Please Be Aware: The real Living Wage is completely different to the Agricultural Wages (Scotland) Order. The real Living Wage is calculated annually and announced in autumn. If you employ staff, you have until 1 May of the following year, to implement it.

You should check the current real Living Wage hourly rate on the Living Wage Scotland website https://scottishlivingwage.org/ to ensure you are complying.

Fair Work First Exemptions

In limited circumstances, SGRPID may consider allowing an exception to these conditions where a business cannot afford to pay the real Living Wage and/or provide employees with access to Effective Voice channels.

Businesses who cannot meet either or both requirements can apply for an exemption by completing the request for a limited exception to the real living wage conditions for grant template (link below) and send it to their local SGRPID office before submitting their application.

Request For a Limited Exception to the Real Living Wage Condition for Grants Template

Further guidance on limited exceptions to the real Living Wage condition in public sector grants is available through the link below.

Fair Work First Limited Exceptions to the Real Living Wage condition guidance