Rural Payments and Services

Once assessment and ranking are complete, you will be notified of the outcome of your application by email.

Successful applications

If your application is successful, you will be notified at the preferred communication email address registered for your business on Rural Payments and Services (RPS) that an Offer of Grant has been made.

You must log in to the Manage Applications and Claims (MAC) portal to view your Offer of Grant and its terms and conditions.

You must accept your Offer of Grant within 14 calendar days of the date it was made. If you do not accept it within this period, the Offer of Grant will be withdrawn.

You should read your Offer of Grant and its terms and conditions carefully before accepting it and keep a copy for your records.

By accepting the Offer, you agree to purchase or complete every approved investment and the full approved quantity included in it and to provide all required evidence.

If you are not able or willing to complete the whole approved Project, you should decline the Offer.

You must not accept the Offer on the basis that you will decide later which approved investments to complete.

Unsuccessful applications

If your application is unsuccessful, your notification will explain the reason for the decision.

Where your application was eligible but did not rank highly enough to receive funding, your notification will include:

• your Application Score;
• the score at which the available budget was fully committed; and
• where relevant, the tie-break that determined the outcome of your application.

Where applications with the same Application Score were separated by a tie-break, your notification will explain which tie-break was applied.

Information about requesting a review is set out on the Requesting a review page

Payment of grant

Before grant can be paid, you must:

• accept your Offer of Grant;
• provide any Minimal Financial Assistance information or confirmation required under the Subsidy control and World Trade Organisation (WTO) classification page; and
• satisfy any other conditions that apply before payment under your Offer of Grant.

Once these requirements have been met, the grant will be paid to the GBP bank account registered with Scottish Government Rural Payments and Inspections Division (SGRPID) for your business.

You are responsible for ensuring that your registered bank account details are valid and up to date. Incorrect or out-of-date bank details may delay payment.

Grant payments will normally be made within 30 working days after the conditions required before payment have been satisfied.

Effect on your other agricultural support payments

Once your Future Farming Investment Scheme (FFIS) grant has been paid, all other agricultural support payments due or becoming due to your business will be placed on hold.

The hold will remain until:

• every approved investment and the full approved quantity have been completed;
• all required evidence has been submitted;
• the evidence and any further information or inspection have been assessed and verified; and
• SGRPID has confirmed that you have complied with your Offer of Grant.

Submitting evidence does not automatically release the hold. Your other agricultural support payments will remain on hold while your FFIS evidence is assessed and verified.

This may delay Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS), Voluntary Coupled Support (VCS) and other agricultural support payments that would otherwise be paid to your business.

Where recovery action is required, the hold may remain until all recoverable amounts have been recovered or otherwise resolved.

Completing your investment

Once you have accepted your Offer of Grant, you can order and purchase your Maximum Cost investments and begin work on your Standard Cost investments.

You must complete every approved investment and the full approved quantity included in your Offer of Grant. You must also submit all required evidence by the Completion and Evidence Deadline. This is nine months from the date your Offer of Grant was made, unless SGRPID has approved an extension in writing.

A Maximum Cost investment is complete when it:

• meets the applicable specification in the Capital Investment Guide;
• has been purchased and paid for in full by the applicant business;
• has been delivered;
• has been installed, where required; and
• is in situ and fully operational, where applicable.

A Standard Cost investment is complete when:

• the full approved quantity, length or area has been completed;
• it meets the applicable specification in the Capital Investment Guide; and
• all required before work and post completion evidence is provided.

Important

You must complete every approved investment and the full approved quantity by the Completion and Evidence Deadline. You must also provide satisfactory evidence for every approved investment. If you do not, SGRPID will recover the whole grant and may charge interest, unless SGRPID approved a reduction or removal in writing beforehand.

Purchasing and payment requirements

You must accept your Offer of Grant before making any binding commitment to an approved investment. This includes ordering, purchasing, paying a deposit, entering into a contract or taking delivery.

You may obtain a quotation before accepting your Offer, provided it does not create a binding commitment.

After accepting your Offer, you must complete every approved investment and approved quantity. You must also submit all required evidence by the Completion and Evidence Deadline. This is nine months from the date shown on your Offer of Grant letter.

For investments supported using a Maximum Cost, the investment must be purchased and paid for in full by the applicant business within this period.

For Standard Cost investments, invoices and proof of payment are not required. The full approved quantity, length or area must be completed to the required specification within the completion period.

Where payment evidence is required, the payment must:

• be made by the business or person named in the Offer of Grant;
• be traceable and verifiable through financial records; and
• be clearly linked to the invoice or invoices for the approved investment.

A single payment may cover more than one invoice, provided you can supply sufficient evidence to show how the payment relates to the approved investment.

The following are not accepted:

• cash payments;
• part exchange;
• hire purchase, leasing or other finance arrangements;
• payment from an account that cannot be linked to the applicant business; or
• purchase from a supplier owned by, controlled by or otherwise connected with the applicant business.

You must retain invoices and evidence of payment for all investments where these are required under the scheme rules.

Extensions

You must purchase all approved investments, have them on your farm or croft and fully operational, and provide all required evidence of investment within nine months of the date of your Offer of Grant.

You should order your approved investments as soon as possible after receiving your grant payment.

Extensions will only be considered in exceptional circumstances where something outside your control prevents you from completing the investment within the nine-month period.

If you request an extension, you must provide evidence to support your request. This must include proof that the investment was ordered promptly after you received your grant payment, together with evidence of the reason for the delay and the expected delivery or completion date.

An extension will not normally be approved where the investment was not ordered promptly, the delay could reasonably have been avoided, or there is insufficient evidence that the investment can be completed within the requested extension period.

You must contact FFIS@gov.scot as soon as you become aware that you may not be able to meet your deadline. You should not wait until the nine-month period has expired.

If an extension is approved, any FFIS hold on your other agricultural support payments will remain in place until all required evidence has been submitted, assessed and verified by SGRPID.

Changes to your approved investment

You cannot swap, substitute or replace an approved investment with a different investment after accepting your Offer of Grant.

You cannot:

• add a different investment;
• transfer grant between approved investments; or
• increase the grant awarded for an approved investment.

You may purchase a different make, model or product of the same approved investment where it:

• meets every applicable specification and condition in the Capital Investment Guide; and
• does not increase the grant awarded.

You must obtain SGRPID’s written approval before deciding not to complete an approved investment or reducing an approved quantity. You must obtain approval before making the change and before the Completion and Evidence Deadline.

SGRPID will reassess the revised Project using the published eligibility, scoring and ranking rules.

Approval will not be given where the revised Project would not have received funding under those rules.

A different investment cannot be approved as a replacement.

Important

Unless prior written approval is obtained, failure to complete any approved investment or the full approved quantity will result in recovery of the whole grant, together with any applicable interest.