SC Scheme Payments

For each Scheme year eligible farm businesses will receive a payment for each eligible calving event.  Payment will issue to the Farm Business ID where the eligible calving event occurred. Mergers, scission and probate will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

The level of payment will be £100 for each calving event (whether AFC or CI).

We will issue one payment to you for the full Scheme year in the following Scheme year.

If the Northern Ireland Quantitative Limit (NI QL) of 222,000 calving events per year is exceeded, a linear reduction will be applied at a farm level on the number of animals a farm business can receive payment for, i.e. on a pro-rata basis.

Example:

You opt in to the Scheme in 2025. If we decide that you have an eligible business and that you have eligible calving events for 2025 - 2026, we will issue a payment to you in 2026 after the Scheme years ends.

You do not need to opt in to the Scheme again. Unless you subsequently opt out, we will undertake the necessary checks in subsequent years and, if you remain eligible for a payment, we will issue this payment to you each year after the Scheme year ends.

We will use the information recorded by your farm business on NIFAIS to decide the number of calving events that are eligible for payment. It is therefore important that you ensure that the information recorded on NIFAIS for your animals is accurate and up-to-date.

We will use the Bank Account details we hold for that farm business for the purposes of issuing the payment. Unless you have already done so, you must provide us with your business’s bank account details for us to issue your payment. If your bank account details change you must inform us immediately. We will not make a payment to any bank account except the bank account which we hold for the business.

If we determine, after you receive your payment, that you were not eligible or that the amount of payment you received was greater than that which you were eligible for, we may decide that you have been over-paid. If we decide that you have been over-paid, we reserve the right to seek recovery of this payment from you. This could include reducing future payments from us for the Scheme or other schemes that you are eligible for. We also reserve the right to recover any other over-payments or debts (including Enforcement of Judgements Office debts) from your payments.

The Scheme will be continually monitored and will have an in-depth review point at the end of two years and can be amended, paused or stopped at any stage to ensure there are no negative unintended consequences.