Basic Payment Scheme: guidance

10. Transition period for payment rates

The Scottish Government is obliged to make sure all payment entitlements in the same payment region have the same value but has opted not to move to these regional rates in one step.

It has instead opted for a phased approach where claimants will move to a wholly area-based payment system by 2019 in equal sized steps. This means a five-year transition period with claimants receiving 100 per cent area based payments by 2019.

Under this system, some existing beneficiaries will see their payments rise (in comparison to what they received under SFPS) whilst others will see their payments fall. This is an inevitable result of the change, required to meet European Commission regulations, of switching from payments based on an individual farmer's historic agricultural activity to payment rates according to three different land regions.

These rates will not be fixed until we have calculated the number of entitlements to be allocated, the extent of successful National Reserve applications and the total of payments to young farmers.

All of this information, together with the land declared, will stem from the Single Application Forms submitted by 15 May. Consequently, it is not possible to say in advance what the payment rates will be.

As an indication of what the payment rates might be, the estimates are as follows:

• Payment Region one = €145.00
• Payment Region two = €25.00
• Payment Region three = €7.00