Overview of the Act
- The Direct Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) Act provides the legal basis to continue paying Direct Payments to farmers by ensuring that the scheme continues in each part of the UK for claim year 2020. This is necessary because under the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement (WA) the EU Direct Payments legislation will not apply in the UK for the 2020 claim year.
- The Act domesticates the EU Direct Payments legislation, as it stands on 31 January 2020, into UK law. It includes time-limited powers. It contains a power to make secondary legislation to make corrections to that body of law to make it operable once the UK has left the EU. It also contains a discretionary power to enable amendments to be made, during 2020, to the law this Act domesticates if, for example, there are amendments to the equivalent European law that the Secretary of State or the devolved administrations wish to replicate. There is also a power for the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) to enable them to continue to move towards a uniform unit value of payment entitlements. The Act also amends the EU Direct Payments legislation to enable an increase to the Direct Payments financial ceilings for the 2020 scheme year to take account of the findings of the Bew Review concerning the allocation of farm support funding in the UK.
