On 11 June 2025, Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered a landmark Spending Review, where she pledged to increase departmental spending by 2.3% per year in real terms. An additional £190 billion is to be allocated to public services, sectors such as healthcare, transport...
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Rural Accountancy Group IHT Impact Report
We have contributed to a report on The Real Impact of the 2024 Autumn Budget IHT Announcements. This report was put together by the Rural Accountancy Group (RAG) in which includes 10 accountancy firms across England and Scotland who specialise in farming, estates and...
Defra pauses offers for new capital grants regime
Due to a surge in applications Defra has taken the decision to pause offers for the capital grant scheme. This has led to some frustration from farmers who have been waiting for three months in some cases for Defra to come back to them regarding their application....
Agricultural Property Relief – Changes Ahead
Government initiatives often shape the landscape of various sectors, and agriculture is no exception. Recent developments in the UK's environmental policies are set to bring significant changes to agricultural property relief (APR). Background In 2023, the UK...
DEFRA provides transparency on farming budget spend
After concerns were raised by food and farming organisations, DEFRA has decided to provide more transparency on how the agriculture budget for England is spent. On 18th September DEFRA published its Food Farming and Countryside Programme annual report for the 2022-23...
Flood Management scheme open to farmers
In September, the Environment Agency and Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs announced a new £25 million flood management scheme as part of their Natural flood management programme. This (ring-fenced) funding is being provided by the government and...
Farming Transformation Fund
The government has launched an infrastructure grant scheme worth £10 million to fund cattle housing for farmers. This fund aims to improve calf health and welfare as well as enhancing environmental sustainability and innovation. The funding will be granted to farmers...
Defra to allow farm buyers to claim delinked payments
Defra has published updated guidance regarding farms that have recently been sold. New Defra guidance From 2024 Basic Payment Scheme payments will be delinked which means that new farm owners will not need to apply for BPS, instead this will be calculated based...
Landscape Recovery Scheme to support sustainable food production
Second round of the Landscape Recovery Scheme The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has announced a second round of the Landscape Recovery Scheme which was initially launched in 2022. Farmers and land managers can apply for a share of the £15m...
New rules regarding Biodiversity Net Gains
New rules regarding biodiversity net gains have been announced by the Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra). The main announcement is regarding a mandatory uplift of a 10% minimum biodiversity net gain (BNG). It is believed that this will be...
Challenges for farmers in 2023
Introduction Going into 2023, the outlook is much less optimistic for farmers. However, the annual Sentiment Survey, conducted in October/November demonstrated that most farmers were in reasonable financial shape. Arable farmers Arable farmers were in...
Agriculture and Horticulture Productivity Fund
The department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has recently announced £12.5 million in grant funding to businesses in the agriculture and horticulture sectors to help improve automation and robotics to boost productivity. Defra, in partnership with UK...