Defra intends to introduce delinked payments in 2024, with the last payment being made in 2027. It is understood that this new method of payment will be significantly simpler to administer for all.  This new system will replace the current BPS and will not be optional if you want to continue to receive direct payments.

To receive a delinked payment, recipients will not be required to continue farming, have land or even entitlements for the remaining years of the agricultural transition.  It will however be necessary for the claimant to be eligible for and claim BPS in 2023.

The payment amount for the delinked payment will be based on the average claim during the refence period 2020 to 2022.  The value of the delinked payment will then be calculated each year by multiplying the reference amount by the progressive reductions for that year.

The following should be noted;

• Delinked payments will be treated for tax purposes in the same way as BPS payments.
• Receipt of delinked payments will not disqualify claiming under new schemes including ELMs
• Cross compliance will not apply to delinked payments, however there is a regulatory baseline under domestic legislation, and most standards will continue to apply as legal requirements

It is important to be mindful of business changes that may have occurred during the reference period (since 2020) and which might affect the calculation or access to delinked payments a farmer might receive.  Exceptions to the impact of business change are expected for business mergers, splits and inheritance cases but details have yet to be provided by RPA.  The potential for a cliff edge impact on the payments received wants to be avoided.

Once further details are made available by RPA we will update.