What to do before you apply for an SFI standards agreement

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YouOur new SFI application service is designed to be quicker and more straightforward for farmers. The service includes some new functionality that allows us to automate the checks we need to do and process applications to offer agreements much more quickly than we’ve previously been able to do. This means you should usually receive your agreement offer within 2 months of submitting your application.

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We’ll We will respond to these requests as quickly as possible, and in most cases within 2 weeks.

We expect that most BPS eligible farmers should be able to apply directly online in the Rural Payments service by the end of August, without needing RPA assistance or intervention.

For more information, read the guidance about how to apply online for an SFI standards agreement on land outside a common.

If you cannot apply online because you do not have access to the internet or a computer, call us on 03000 200 301 (Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm, except bank holidays).

What to do before you apply

There are some things you can do before you apply for SFI, to make your application easier.

Check your registered contact details and permissions

You should sign into the Rural Payments service and check your business and personal details are up to date.

You should also check your permissions. You can do this from your ‘Business overview’ screen in ‘Give people permission to act for this business’.

To create an SFI application, you’ll need one of the following permissions:

• Business Details ‘Full’
• Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) ‘Submit’
• BPS ‘Amend’

To submit an SFI application, you’ll need either:

• Business Details ‘Full’ permission
• BPS ‘Submit’ permission

If you don’t have the relevant permission, someone with ‘Business Details: Full’ permission for the business can update the permissions. You can give someone else the relevant permission to apply on your behalf. Read the BPS 2022 how to apply online guidance for information about how to do this.

Register on the Rural Payments service if you’re setting up a single entity for common land

If you are setting up a new single entity on behalf of a group of commoners, you’ll need to register on the Rural Payments service to obtain a new Single Business Identifier (SBI). Read more information about setting up a single entity.

Check that you and your land are eligible

You should check that:

• you’reyou are eligible to apply for SFI
• you’llyou will have management control of the land for the 3-year duration of your SFI standards agreement

Read the information about eligibility.

Check your land details

When you apply online for SFI in the Rural Payments service, you’ll see:

• the land parcels currently linked to your SBI
• the ‘available area’ for SFI in those land parcels, based on the land covers currently registered that are eligible for each standard

If these details are not up to date, this will affect which land parcels you can select to include in your SFI application.

Before you apply for SFI, you need to check your digital maps are up to date. To view your digital maps, sign into the Rural Payments service. From your ‘Business overview’ screen select ‘Land’ and ‘View land’.

Read about checking your land details and how land cover affects your SFI application.