Calculate my progressive reductions
Use this service to:
- see how progressive reductions could affect your Direct Payment in England (currently paid through the Basic Payment Scheme) for scheme years 2021 to 2024.
Calculation should take less than 2 minutes. No personal information is input, collected or retained in this exercise. The results are an estimated calculation based on the progressive reduction figures set out in our ‘Farming is Changing’ leaflet and the data inputted by the user.
There is no limit to the number of times you can use this calculator.
What are progressive reductions?
We plan to phase out Direct Payments in England from 2021 to 2027. Our approach is designed to help everyone manage the transition away from Direct Payments as smoothly as possible. The same amount will be available to the farming sector in every year of this Parliament, though the way it is distributed will change. Funds will be redirected straight back into Countryside Stewardship and our new schemes.
We made the first progressive reductions to Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments for the 2021 scheme year. We will continue to make reductions to BPS payments each year, and then to delinked payments when these replace BPS. We plan to delink payments in 2024. All BPS payments were reduced from 2021, with bigger reductions in higher payment bands. These bands will work like income tax bands.
We have announced the reductions we intend to apply for each of the years 2021 to 2024. We intend to continue to make gradual reductions to the payments in the later years of the agricultural transition, with the last payments made for the 2027 scheme year.
For more information about the 2021 to 2024 reductions to Direct Payments, the other support available during the transition period and delinked payments please see 'The Path to Sustainable Farming: An Agricultural Transition Plan 2021 to 2024' and our 'Farming is Changing' leaflet, linked above.
Before you start
This calculator will apply progressive reductions to a ‘starting payment amount’ for the scheme years 2021 to 2024.
BPS years 2021 to 2023
This starting payment amount will be the total payment you would have been due in each scheme year, before progressive reductions are applied. While we operate BPS, the progressive reductions will be applied to the total BPS payment (including any young farmer payment), after all other reductions and penalties have been applied. As now, your BPS payment value will be calculated each year, once financial ceilings for the scheme are set, and will depend on the BPS entitlements and eligible area you claim in that year.
If, while BPS continues to operate, you expect to claim for a similar area of land as you did in 2020, your 2020 claim value can usually be used as a starting payment amount. If you expect your claim area to change, you should adjust your starting payment amount accordingly, taking the average unit values from your 2020 Claim Statement and multiplying them by the revised claim area you are planning to use. There is no limit to the number of times you can use this calculator.
Delinked Payments 2024
We plan to introduce delinked payments in 2024. For delinked payments, we plan to apply progressive reductions to a 'reference amount', based on the average BPS payment you received during the 2020 to 2022 reference period. This may be similar to the value of your BPS 2020 payment.
If you have land other than in England or a claim above €150,000
This calculator applies for Direct Payments in England. If you also claimed for land in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland in 2020, then you should exclude those parts of your claim from your starting payment amount. If your 2020 claim was above €150,000, you should use your claim value before the 5% reduction was applied to amounts above €150,000. This is because, to avoid overlapping reductions, that 5% reduction no longer applies from the 2021 claim year.
If you require help in using this calculator, please call the Rural Payments helpline on 03000 200 301
If you would like more information about schemes and grants funded through the reductions to BPS, please visit the Rural payments and grants page