Rural Payments and Services

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

The application window opened on 14 July 2025 and closed 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 brand 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 not 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 G
• your agricultural business is registered and approved for funding with SGRPID (new businesses that submitted a SAF to claim funding 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. You can include multiple investments in the application.

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.

Here is a step-by-step video to assist you with your application.

When to apply

The application window opened on 14 July 2025 and closed 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.

Eligibility Review

Each application will first be reviewed to confirm that:

• the business meets the basic scheme rules
• the proposed investments are eligible and include enough information to be assessed
• key declarations (new entrant, young farmer, farm size, tenancy, organic, island-based) match official records

Applications will then move to scoring if they meet these checks and include enough information to allow a fair assessment.

Detailed Assessment and Scoring

Applications are scored to prioritise those that deliver the greatest benefit for Scottish agriculture and the wider public.

Contribution to FFIS Objectives

Each type of investment is scored on a 0–5 scale against the following objectives:

• business efficiency
• business sustainability
• environmental protection and restoration
• greenhouse gas emissions reduction
• climate change adaptation
• public good

Ministerial Priorities
For applications with multiple items, we will use a grant-weighted average score. This means that each item’s score is taken into account in proportion to the grant requested, ensuring that the overall result fairly reflects the mix of items in an application. Extra weighting is given to applications from:

• new entrants
• young farmers (where the business started trading after 15 May 2021)
• small agricultural businesses (<30 ha)
• tenants
• island-based businesses
• organic businesses

Funding Request
We look at your total funding request at the application level, comparing it with the total cost of your project and the maximum grant you are allowed to apply for. Applications that ask for a proportionate amount of funding receive a higher score.

We also apply a small positive adjustment for priority groups (new entrants, young farmers, tenants, and small businesses) so they are not put at a disadvantage if they cannot contribute as much private match funding.

Final Ranking and Allocation
Your scores from all three elements are combined to give a final score. Applications are ranked from highest to lowest, and funding offers are made in that order until the available budget is fully allocated.

Because the scheme is likely to be oversubscribed, even eligible applications may not receive funding if they score lower than other applicants.

When You Will Hear About Your Application

Applications cannot be assessed or grant offers made before early October 2025 due to World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) notification requirements.

When offers are issued, you will:

• be notified by email at the address recorded in your Rural Payments and Services (RPS) account at the time you applied
• have 14 days to accept the offer
• receive payment within 30 days of acceptance

The scheme received 7,582 applications seeking over £77 million in grant funding against a total available budget of £21.4 million. Given the level of demand, it was not possible to support all applications through the scheme.

The below sets out how FFIS applications were assessed. It explains the eligibility and verification processes and the assessment and scoring framework on which funding decisions were made.

In summary, FFIS applications were assessed through a three-stage process, eligibility and verification, scoring and priority weighting, and competitive ranking within the scheme budget.

All applications were required to meet the published scheme eligibility and verification requirements before being taken forward to scoring. Where an application did not meet one or more required eligibility or verification criteria, it did not progress further in the assessment process.

Priority group status was identified through the responses to specific questions within the application form relating to the business applying for the grant, including the age of the head of business, land area, length of time trading, land tenure, island location, and organic status. Applicants were not asked to select priority groups directly. Application responses were used to identify applications for verification against the published scheme definitions. A summary of the application questions used to identify each priority group is set out below.

The scheme guidance made clear that priority groups would be given priority and we did this by providing them with additional weighting within the scoring framework. However, priority groups still needed to meet scheme eligibility rules and being in a priority group did not override scoring thresholds within a competitive ranking. As a result, not all eligible applications including those from priority groups could be funded.

All information provided in applications was validated against the published eligibility criteria and assessed against the same scoring framework, regardless of business type or location. Quality assurance and revalidation activity confirmed that the framework was applied consistently, and where issues were identified through assurance checks these were addressed, resulting in additional grant offers being issued in line with the published scheme rules.

The information that follows sets out the assessment process in detail and presents grant award data in a way that reflects the number of applications supported within each priority group, noting that individual applications may meet more than one priority group criteria and that priority groups are not mutually exclusive.

Overview of the FFIS assessment process

Applications were assessed against the scheme rules as set out in the published scheme guidance. The assessment comprised the following stages:

• validation of application information against RPID systems;
• eligibility checks against published FFIS definitions;
• assessment of planned capital investments against scheme rules;
• scoring of eligible investments against scheme objectives;
• calculation of a total application score;
• ranking of applications and issue of grant offers within the available budget

This approach ensured that all applications were assessed consistently against the same criteria.

Examples are provided in Annex K to explain how the assessment of applications was applied against the published scheme guidance and rules. These examples are anonymised and illustrative.

How the FFIS assessment system worked

An Excel based scoring tool was used to bring together verified business information drawn from existing RPID systems used to validate claims and applications under other agricultural support schemes.

The assessment and scoring framework was designed and applied by RPID agricultural staff within the Agricultural Development and Area Office teams. These staff reviewed each application to determine whether:

• the proposed capital items were eligible under the published scheme guidance
• sufficient information had been provided to assess the proposed investment
• the investment was appropriate for the type of farm or croft business
• where capital items were described as delivering Electronic Identification (EID) or Water Efficiency benefits, that this was supported by the nature of the item.

The Excel based tool then applied the agreed scoring framework to produce consistent scores and rankings for all eligible applications taken forward for funding consideration.

While data verification and scoring were supported by digital tools, assessment decisions were taken by RPID staff applying the published scheme rules.

Validation of application information

For all agricultural support schemes, information provided within an application or claim is validated against data held on RPID systems for the relevant farm or croft business. The purpose of this validation is to ensure that applications comply with the scheme rules and that public funds are awarded correctly.

The FFIS application form included a range of questions designed to obtain information about the agricultural business and to identify applications for verification against the published scheme definitions. Applicants were not asked to self-certify priority status directly.

Eligibility was not determined by responses entered on the application form, but by verification of the responses against the published scheme definitions and information held on RPID systems. Where application form questions captured only part of a formal scheme definition, eligibility was determined in full by reference to the published definitions, which were applied consistently across all applications.

As FFIS grants were paid up front, full verification was completed before any application could progress to being made a grant offer. Applicants were responsible for ensuring that the information provided in their application was accurate and complied with the published scheme guidance and rules. Applications were assessed based on the information provided at the point of submission

Where any response provided in an FFIS application could not be verified against RPID system, the application did not meet the verification requirements and did not progress further in the assessment process. This applied whether the response related to priority characteristics, business details, previous grant funding, or the eligibility and description of the planned capital investment.

FFIS did not allow applications to be amended or withdrawn and resubmitted after the application window had closed, as allowing retrospective correction would have risked unfairness within a competitive scheme and undermined the integrity of the assessment process.

During the application window, guidance clarification was published on 7 August 2025 setting out the minimum information that applicants were required to include for certain capital items for an application to be capable of assessment, including clear descriptions and measurements for investments such as hedges, trees and ponds. The clarification also explained that where this information had been omitted, applicants could choose to withdraw and submit a new application containing the required details.

Following this clarification, applicants who had applied for relevant environmental capital items that did not include the mandatory information were contacted to draw their attention to the published guidance and the option to withdraw and reapply during the open application period. Applications were not amended after submission, and no additional information was accepted once the application window had closed.

In total, 3,120 applications did not pass one or more eligibility or verification checks. Across those applications, 3,124 instances were recorded where specific eligibility or verification requirements were not met, reflecting that some applications failed more than one check.

A detailed breakdown of the eligibility and verification categories is set out below.

Accuracy of information provided in applications

As FFIS grants were paid up front and formed the basis of legally binding grant contracts, applications were required to be assessed using verified and accurate information to protect both applicants and public money.

Across all FFIS applications, including planned capital investments, a total of 5,257 instances were identified where information provided could not be confirmed against records held on RPID systems, or where information declared in relation to capital items did not meet the scheme rules. These figures reflect instances of non-alignment, rather than individual applications, as some applications failed more than one verification or eligibility check.

The issues identified covered a range of circumstances. These included cases where responses to application questions identified applications for verification against priority or eligibility criteria but could not be confirmed against the published scheme definitions and information held on RPID systems; cases where previous participation in Sustainable Agriculture Capital Grant Scheme (SACGS) or Crofting Agricultural Grant Scheme (CAGS) was identified through verification; and cases where the eligibility or classification of planned capital investments did not meet scheme requirements.

In relation to capital investments, a significant number of instances arose where items were declared as delivering specific outcomes, for example water efficiency or EID, but were assessed as not meeting the definitions or where insufficient capital item description was provided to allow the application to form a legally binding grant offer.

These inconsistencies did not necessarily indicate any deliberate intent to mislead but demonstrated a lack of awareness of scheme guidance and rules and highlight areas where future scheme guidance and customer support could be strengthened.

Communication with applicants

The published scheme guidance made clear that applicants were responsible for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of the information provided in their application. It also set out that knowingly or recklessly providing false or unsupported information could have wider implications under scheme rules, including recovery of payments or exclusion from other agricultural support schemes such as the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS) and Voluntary Coupled Support.

Providing detailed, application specific feedback, requires careful handling to ensure that information is explained accurately and in line with the published scheme rules, including where verified information did not align with declarations made within an application.

For this reason, communications with applicants who were unsuccessful were limited to confirming that their application had been unsuccessful due to the scheme being oversubscribed, while further consideration was given to how more detailed, application-specific feedback could be provided consistently and proportionately and in a way that was aligned with the published scheme rules and did not prejudice applicants’ position under other agricultural support schemes.

Planned capital investment assessment

Once basic eligibility was confirmed, applications progressed to a detailed assessment of the planned capital investment.

In total, 1,417 applications included one or more capital items that were assessed as not suitable for funding and were therefore not taken forward for scoring. This included applications where:

• insufficient detail was provided to form a legally binding contract
• descriptions of capital investments were vague or unclear
• multiple unlinked investments were grouped under a single capital item entry rather than being listed separately with individual costs and grant amounts
• items applied for were not eligible under the scheme rules
• proposed livestock items were not supporting a livestock business
• items were incorrectly described as delivering Electronic Identification (EID) or Water Efficiency benefits

Only applications that passed this assessment stage progressed to scoring.

A summary of the main reasons individual capital items were assessed as not suitable for funding is set out in the table below.

In all cases, FFIS supported items were required to be for the benefit of the applicant’s own agricultural business and agricultural activity, and not for use in agricultural contracting or to support the activities or livestock of another business.

Capital investment scoring

Capital investments were grouped into categories and assessed against six scheme objectives:

• improving business efficiency
• improving business sustainability
• protecting, restoring, or enhancing the environment
• reducing greenhouse gas emissions
• mitigating the effects of climate change
• delivering wider public good in line with the Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM)

Each category was scored from zero to five against each objective. These scores were combined to produce a Score for each category.

Where an application included multiple capital items, each item was scored individually and an average of the relevant category scores was calculated to produce a single application-level score.

Further detail on category scores is provided in Annex L.

Funding score ratio

The funding requested score assessed how much grant an applicant requested relative to both the total cost of the investment and the applicant’s maximum grant allowance, reflecting the applicant’s own contribution towards the proposed investment.

Application of priority group weightings

In addition to the scoring of planned capital investments against the scheme objectives, applications were assessed to determine whether they met one or more of the published priority criteria set out in the scheme guidance, including the definitions contained in the annexes to that guidance.

Information used to identify whether an application met a priority criterion was derived from responses to specific questions within the application and verified against information held by RPID for the business, supplemented where necessary by manual checks. Applications were required to meet the published definition for the relevant priority group to be treated as eligible for support under the scheme. Where responses indicating that a business met a priority criterion could not be confirmed through verification, the application could not be considered eligible for funding and did not progress further in the assessment process, in line with the scheme rules.

Priority group status was reflected through the application of defined priority weightings within the scoring framework. Each priority group was assigned a weighting score on a scale of 1 to 5, reflecting the relative policy importance attached to that group and the structural or geographic challenges they face, such as access to capital, scale, or remoteness. A summary of the Ministerial priority group weighting scores applied is set out in the table below.

Applications could meet the conditions associated with more than one priority criteria. Where this occurred, the relevant priority group scores were added to the overall application score, this was then combined with the item score and multiplied by the funding ratio as detailed above.

For priority applicants a further uplift was applied to the score to reflect the priority, providing an uplift to the score by comparison to similar non priority applicants, without undermining the merit-based ranking of applications. Noting, that even with this additional uplift, there was no guarantee that applications from priority groups would score more strongly that applications from non- priority applicants.

Applications were ranked by total score, and grant offers were issued to the highest scoring applications until the available budget was fully committed. Priority group status did not override eligibility requirements or the competitive nature of the scheme within a fixed budget.

Capital investment selection and scheme objectives

The FFIS guidance gave applicants flexibility to select investments appropriate to their business, if they delivered against at least one scheme objective.

Many applications proposed standard items of agricultural equipment that support routine farm management. While these items were eligible, when assessed within a competitive framework they often demonstrated more limited delivery against the scheme objectives.

By contrast, higher scoring applications typically proposed investments that demonstrated clearer public benefit and clear alignment with environmental, efficiency, and climate outcomes.

This approach reflected the scheme’s purpose to support transformational investment rather than routine replacement of standard equipment.

Total application score and award process

Each application that passed all eligibility and assessment stages received a total application score.

For illustration purposes, an application proposing more than one eligible capital investment would first receive a capital investment score, calculated using a grant-weighted average of the relevant investment category scores for the capital items they had applied for. This approach ensured that the overall capital investment score reflected both the type of capital investment proposed and the relative scale of grant support requested for each item, while avoiding any advantage or disadvantage for applicants proposing a single capital item compared with those proposing multiple items.

Where an application was confirmed on verification as meeting one or more of the priority group criteria, additional priority weightings were applied to the total application score. Priority groups were not mutually exclusive, and where multiple criteria were met this increased the overall application score.

A proportionality adjustment was applied to reflect the relationship between the grant requested and the total cost of the proposed investment(s), ensuring that applications seeking a higher proportion of public funding did not gain an advantage over those requesting more modest levels of support.

Where equity considerations applied, for example for priority groups with less access to capital, the proportionality adjustment reflected this to ensure such applicants were not unfairly disadvantaged within a competitive ranking. This produced a final adjusted score for each application, which was then used for ranking purposes.

Applications were ranked in descending order, and grant offers were issued up to the available budget. Once the budget threshold was reached, no further applications could be supported.

As a result of the scheme budget, a substantial number of applications that met all eligibility and verification requirements did not receive a grant offer because they did not score highly enough within the competitive ranking. These applications were otherwise eligible but could not be funded once the available budget was fully committed.

A breakdown of applications that met all eligibility requirements but did not receive a grant offer, by Area Office and business size, is provided in Annex M.

Overall FFIS award outcomes

In total 1,794 grant offers were issued with a total award value of £22.1 million.

The total number and value of grant offers issued reflects both declined offers and additional awards made following revalidation to correct eligibility decisions and ensure all applications were assessed in full alignment with the published scheme rules.

A breakdown of grant offers by Area Office, showing numbers and grant values is provided in Annex N.

Distribution of awards by applicant type

Awards were made to both farmers and crofters, reflecting the range of agricultural businesses applying to the scheme.

To provide appropriate context, outcomes are presented alongside the number of applications received, those assessed as eligible for support, the number of grant offers issued, and the associated value of grant offers.

Crofters engaged fully with the scheme, submitting a substantial number of applications. Differences in funding outcomes reflect eligibility and verification outcomes and the competitive ranking within a fixed budget, rather than differential treatment of crofters at the scoring stage. Once applications were assessed as eligible, crofter applications were considered alongside all other applications using the same assessment and scoring framework.

Awards to priority groups

Applicants could meet the criteria for more than one priority group. These categories are not mutually exclusive, and figures should not be added together.

“Number of Applications Received” reflects applications where the applicant responded “Yes” to the relevant application form question used to identify potential priority group status. These responses were subject to verification against the published scheme definitions and information held on RPID systems.

The figures below show how many applications were subsequently assessed as eligible for each priority group, how many received a grant offer, and the proportion of eligible applications that were supported within the available budget. Priority status increased an application’s score but did not guarantee a funding award.

Awards by business size

Grant values varied according to the scale of the business and the planned investment, reflecting the maximum grant allowances set out in the scheme rules.

Support for priority groups

As shown in the tables above a substantial proportion of grant offers were made to businesses that, following verification, met one or more of the Ministerial priority criteria.

Meeting a priority criteria resulted in additional weighting being applied within the assessment process but did not guarantee funding. All applications were required to meet the eligibility requirements and were ranked based on the strength of their proposed investment.

While crofting businesses were not designated as a separate Ministerial priority group within the scheme guidance, they also received a significant number of grant offers, reflecting the profile of applications received and the consistent application of the assessment framework with many crofting businesses meeting one or more priority criteria, such as being small, island based, or tenanted businesses.

Differences in award value across business types and sizes reflect the scale of eligible investment and maximum grant allowances set out in the scheme rules, rather than differential treatment within the assessment process. A significant number of successful applications from priority groups fell within the large business category.

Further information about individual applications

Applicants who wish to seek further clarification about the outcome of their FFIS application may contact the FFIS team by email at FFIS@gov.scot.

Responses will explain how the published scheme rules and assessment process were applied to their application. This will include confirmation of whether the application was assessed as ineligible or eligible but unsuccessful due to its position in the competitive ranking.

For applications that did not meet eligibility or verification requirements, responses will set out which requirement or requirements were not satisfied, based on checks against published scheme definitions and information held on RPID systems. Where information provided in an application was inaccurate or could not be verified, this will be explained clearly.

For applications that met all eligibility requirements but were not funded, responses will confirm the application’s final score and explain the score threshold to which applications were funded within the available budget.

Responses will not revisit or reassess applications. They will provide clear, information to support applicant understanding of how the published scheme rules were applied in their case. Where relevant, explanations will reference the scheme rules governing the accuracy of declarations

Where verification identified that information provided in an application did not align with information held on RPID systems or could not be confirmed through verification, feedback will explain this by reference to the published scheme guidance. That guidance makes clear the importance of accurate declarations and sets out the potential implications of inaccuracies beyond the FFIS decision. These requirements are set out in the scheme guidance and are not affected by an applicant seeking clarification or feedback.

The FFIS Frequesntly Asked Questions has been been updated with questions relating to the assessment process

Learning and future improvement

Analysis of assessment outcomes will inform learning for any future capital grant schemes, including opportunities to improve the clarity of guidance, strengthen upfront validation. This will help reduce avoidable errors while maintaining robust assurance and value for public money.

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 D.

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 B.

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