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January Update

January 2023

Countryside Stewardship: Increased payments for farmers protecting and enhancing the environment.

Following a review, DEFRA have announced increased payments to farmers protecting and enhancing nature. This includes Countryside Stewardship and Sustainable Farming Incentive Schemes.

Farmers with a Countryside Stewardship agreement (both existing and new) will see an average 10% revenue increase and for those businesses entering in to new capital schemes, capital payments will increase on average by 48%.

Sustainable Farming Incentive Payments will also increase to include a management payment for the first 50 hectares of £20/ha.

For more information, click…

Rural England Prosperity Fund

November 2022

The Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF) has been created as a top up to build on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSFP). The Shared Prosperity Fund which was announced earlier this year had already supplied funding of £2.6 billion but has now been topped up by an additional £110 million through the Rural England Prosperity Fund, targeted specifically at rural communities in qualifying local authorities.

Both funds share similar aims and priorities and have been created to lessen the issues faced in rural communities, they will support the aims of the governments ‘Levelling Up’ programme by providing grants for small businesses and community…

AKC to provide free business support to farmers

October 2022

As part of the final stage of the Future Farm Resilience Fund (FFRF), farmers receiving BPS payments are now entitled to free business support to help plan for the changes to wider Agricultural Policy over the next two and a half years. This will include tailored follow up support relevant to your unique circumstances. This may include adopting new funding streams, new farming techniques or successional changes within the business.

AKC Consultants are available to deliver the business resilience service across the South of the UK, which forms part of a £32 million Defra funded programme. The initiative launches in October 2022 and runs until March 2025…

Administrator and Bookkeeper position

May 2022

Administrator and Bookkeeper

Devizes, Wiltshire

We are looking for a proactive team member to assist with office administration duties and bookkeeping.

The role will be office based and include answering the telephone, responding to emails, managing general day to day office administrative functions plus carrying out bookkeeping remotely for a range of farming and rural clients. The bookkeeping will include entering sales and purchase invoices, reconciling the bank, submitting VAT returns and running monthly/quarterly reports. …

Payroll Update 2022-23

April 2022

Payroll Update 2022-23

For the 2022-23 tax year personal allowances will remain the same at£12,570.00 per annum

New Minimum Wages Increases

April 2021 April 2022

Apprentice £4.30 £4.81

Under 18…

Join the team - job opportunity at AKC

November 2021

Administrator and Bookkeeper

Due to retirement, we are looking for a proactive team member to assist with office administration duties and bookkeeping.

We are looking for someone…

Grant opportunities to improve productivity, animal health & welfare, water use and sustainable woodlands

Farming Equipment & Technology Fund

November 2021

Details of the new Farming Equipment and Technology have been released and are outlined as follows:

Applications to be submitted by 7th January 2022

Applications will be checked and scored prior to grant funding agreement (GFA) offers are made. You will not automatically get a grant. The grant is expected to be highly competitive, and you are competing against all applications received and scored against the same criteria.

Minimum grant £2,000

Maximum grant £25,000

Once…

Results of a recent National Audit review of Defra and Environmental Land Management Scheme review have been published:

The Environmental Land Management Scheme National Audit Review Findings

September 2021

Results of a recent National Audit review of Defra and Environmental Land Management Scheme review have been published: Facts already known about ELMS:

ELMS will be delivered through three components:

Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI): open to all farmers with payment for actions to manage land in an environmentally sustainable way Local Nature Recovery: payment for more complex actions delivering benefit at a local level and aims to encourage collaboration between farms Landscape… Read More

Expansion of the Catchment Sensitive Farming programme

Catchment Sensitive Farming advice now available to all farms in England

August 2021

The government have announced an expansion of the popular Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) programme to cover every farm in England.

The programme – which is a partnership between Defra, Natural England and the Environment Agency can provide free 1-2-1 advice to farmers to help them reduce water and air pollution through management of farmyard manure and soils among other things.

In recent years it has reduced the number of serious water pollution incidents by almost a fifth, and helped farmers access £100m in grants to help protect the environment.

The funding for the programme will now be almost doubled, with an additional £17m over the next three years. The new annual budget will…

Details of grant scheme if farming in a designated protected landscape

Farming In Protected Landscapes Programme

July 2021

The scheme is open to all Farmers and Land Managers within an AONB, National Park or Broads. Also, it may be available to Farmers and Land Managers outside the Protected Landscape Areas if they can meet priority areas described below.

The key areas for the programme are;

Climate Nature People Paces

…

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