The aim of the scheme is to look after and improve the environment by:

The most popular elements are Mid Tier and Wildlife Offers. Higher Tier provides access to some options which are not available under Mid Tier. There are a wide range of options and payment rates covering grassland, arable and horticultural land, woodland, capital projects.

Mid Tier, Higher Tier, Wildlife offers are all 5 year agreements (but there should be an opportunity to finish early if the Environmental Land Management Scheme offers preferable returns).

Capital grants are generally 2 year agreements.

It is normally necessary to either have management control of the land for the full length of the agreement or get the landowner to countersign that they will take on any obligations if the tenancy ends before the end of the scheme.

The last start date for new Countryside Stewardship agreements will be 1st January 2024 although it appears likely that the RPA will offer 5 year extensions to some existing agreement holders.

This means that applications for new agreements need to be submitted by the appropriate deadlines in 2023.

In 2022, the deadline for Higher Tier applications was 29th April 2022 and the deadline for Mid Tier and Wildlife Offer applications was 29th July 2022. There were also deadlines for obtaining any necessary approval and consents such as approval by a Catchment Sensitive Farming Officer for certain options.

Agreements range from fairly small annual payments on marginal areas of a farm to whole farm schemes with large annual payments and substantial capital claims.

The Countryside Stewardship Scheme will be replaced by the Environmental Land Management Scheme.