The Agriculture (Delinked Payments and Consequential Provisions) (England) Regulations 2023

Part 1 Requests for the transfer of the reference amount: general

1.  A request may be made to the Secretary of State under this paragraph by a person—

(a) for the transfer to another person of the reference amount calculated by the Secretary of State under Schedule 1 in respect of that person; or

(b) for the transfer of a specified part or parts of the reference amount calculated by the Secretary of State under Schedule 1 to one or more other persons provided that the sum of the specified parts of the reference amount that are to be transferred does not exceed the total value of that reference amount.

2.  A request may be made to the Secretary of State under this paragraph by a person for the transfer to that person by the Secretary of State of the reference amount calculated by the Secretary of State under Schedule 1 in respect of another person only in the circumstances described in paragraph 6.

3.  A request under paragraph 1 or paragraph 2—

(a) must be made to the Secretary of State in such form, and before the end of such period, as the Secretary of State may specify(1);

(b) may not be made by a person who has submitted an application to the Secretary of State for a lump sum payment under regulation 4 of the Agriculture (Lump Sum Payment) (England) Regulations 2022 unless the Secretary of State has decided, under regulation 11 of those Regulations, not to pay a lump sum payment in connection with that application.

4.  This paragraph applies where—

(a) the reference amount calculated by the Secretary of State under Schedule 1 in respect of a person exceeds £30,000.00; and

(b) the transfer request is made by a person under paragraph 1(b).

5.  This paragraph applies where the transfer request—

(a) is made by a person under paragraph 1(a) or (b); and

(b) relates to all or part of a reference amount that has previously been transferred to that person under paragraph 1(a) or (b).

6.  The circumstances described in this paragraph are that the transfer request relates to all or part of—

(a) the reference amount that applies in relation to a business which has ceased trading whether by reason of a change in the legal structure of the business or otherwise; or

(b) the total sum of the reference amounts that apply in relation to two or more businesses which, for the purposes of the Direct Payments Regulation, were treated by the Secretary of State as a single business in respect of the basic payment scheme claim year 2022 or 2023.

7.  Where paragraph 4 or 5 applies, the Secretary of State must only transfer the reference amount, or any part of that amount, to any other person or persons specified in the request (“ the transferee”) where the Secretary of State is satisfied that the person requesting the transfer completed the transfer of eligible land in England to the transferee between 15th May 2020 and 16th May 2023.

8.  Where paragraph 6 applies, the Secretary of State must transfer the reference amount, or any part of that amount, to the person who made the request under paragraph 2 (“ the transferee”) where the Secretary of State is satisfied that there has been a transfer of eligible land in England from the business concerned to the transferee completed between 15th May 2020 and 16th May 2023.

9.  The Secretary of State may require information or evidence from any person making a request under paragraph 1 or 2 relating to the completion of the transfer of eligible land in England for the purposes of paragraph 4, 5 or 6.

10.  Where the Secretary of State requests information or evidence under paragraph 9, that information or evidence must be provided to the Secretary of State on or before the date specified by the Secretary of State in the request.

(1)

The form in which a request for a transfer of a reference amount must be made and the deadline for making any such request will be specified on www.gov.uk at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/delinked-payments-replacing-the-basic-payment-scheme.