At the end of December 2015, the Department of Agriculture commenced processing the first instalment of 2015 GLAS Tranche 1 payments.
A total of 17,625 farmers with a start date of October 1, 2015, will receive a first instalment payment of what is due for the period October to December. The total value of payments comes to just over €11.5m.
These payments are for 2015 part-year, covering the three month period October 1, 2015 – December 31, 2015 in respect of contracts with an October 1, 2015 start date that have 2015 payable actions.
A list of the 2015 payable actions is set out below:
- Breeding Waders
- Chough
- Corncrake
- Geese and Swans
- Hen HarrierTwite A
- Twite A
- Commonage
- Farmland Habitat (Private Natura)
- Low Input Permanent Pasture
- Traditional Hay Meadow
- Traditional Dry Stone Wall Maintenance
The Department says this payment is based on an estimate of 85% of the payable amount for each applications 2015 payable actions, rounded down to the nearest €100.
Example
For example, an applicant for whom 85% of their 2015 part-year payment is estimated to be between €900 and €1,000 received a first instalment advance payment of €900.
Commonage
In relation to all applications with commonage action the Department has said the estimated value of the part-year payment for the commonage action has been calculated based on an average area of 17ha.
The balancing payments in respect of the remainder of the 2015 part-year payment will take account of the final calculated commonage areas, as well as any GLAS+ payments. In accordance with EU regulations, these balancing payments can only be made when all relevant inspections are completed.
The Department says these payments to be made in May.
The following categories of applicants did not receive a first instalment advance payment:
a) Applicants who have indicated that they have withdrawn actions, parcels or applications;
b) Applications that did not have 1st October 2015 start date or did not have 2015 payable
actions;
c) Applications for which we are finalising the data needed to estimate their contract value;
d) Applications for which 85% of their 2015 payment is estimated to be less than €100;
e) Applications that have a BPS query associated with them, including an outstanding inspection
or a query on a BPS claimed area or a nitrates derogation issue.
A second payment run will be made at the end of January to facilitate payment of cases which have
been updated.
(Source – Agriland – Ciaran Moran – 13/01/2016)
Department Reveals Average Payments To GLAS 1 Farmers
The Department of Agriculture has revealed that GLAS 1 farmers look set to receive on average €4,200 per annum under the scheme.
It says that at this stage it looks like some 1,400 applications from the first tranchewill qualify for GLAS Plus, increasing their annual payment to around €6,500 on average.
The maximum payment available under GLAS is €5,000.
2015 GLAS payment
At the end of December 2015, the Department processed a first instalment of the 2015 part-year payments (covering the three month period 1 October -31 December 2015) for GLAS Tranche 1 applications.
To be eligible for a part-year payment, it was necessary to have an approved start-date of October 1, 2015 for the GLAS contract start, have GLAS actions which are payable in 2015, and to have passed the Department’s payment validation checks.
Payment
According to the Department, these first instalment payments represent up to 85% of the estimated value of the 2015 part-year payment.
Some 17,500 applicants received their first instalment 2015 payment in December, with an average payment of €650 per applicant, the Department says.
It says it is continuing to process applications which are eligible for a 2015 part-year payment and further payments will be processed by the end of January.
The Department says the balancing payments in respect of 2015 part-year payments are scheduled to be processed in May 2016 when all GLAS 2015 inspections have been completed. This 2015 part-year balancing payment will include the GLAS+ payments for eligible applications.
It also says that it is important to note that these part-year payments are purely in respect of actions that were applicable to 2015 and cannot be used as a basis to extrapolate the average value of a GLAS contract over a full year.
Farmers will only see the full value of their contracts when payments are calculated for 2016, the first full year of their five-year contracts, it says.
(Source – Agriland – Ciaran Moran – 14/01/2016)