Crofting Agricultural Grant Scheme (CAGS)

Home All schemes Crofting Agricultural Grant Scheme In Gaelic This scheme provides grants for crofters to make improvements to their crofts and help to sustain their businesses. Funding can be used for: capital projects, such as the construction or improvement of agricultural buildings the establishment of Common Grazings Committees, which is responsible for managing and maintaining common grazing, and is elected by crofters who use it Funding for eligible capital projects can cover all aspects of the project, including the cost of materials, transportation of materials, costs of contractors and your own labour. The total amount of grant aid you can apply for in any two year period is: individual crofter: up to £25,000 groups of crofters: up to £125,000 Full scheme guidance Updates Eligibility Applications Claims Payment Breaches and penalties Appeals and complaints Contact Before you apply for this scheme please read the full scheme guidance. If you have any questions or concerns, ask us before you submit an application or claim. If you do not follow the scheme rules, you risk losing all or part of any payment you may be entitled to. Full scheme guidance If you need any help or assistance to use this guidance, you can book an appointment at your local area office. Book an appointment 8 June, 2016 We've updated the guidance on the maximum limit on expenditure eligible for grant Full guidance Older versions of this guidance are available in the archive. Crofting Agricultural Grant Scheme archive This scheme is open to: croft tenants owner-occupier crofters sub-tenants of crofts groups made up of any of the above categories Common Grazings Committees properly constituted under regulation by the Crofting Commission Crofters with shares in a common grazing that is not regulated may qualify for help with the cost of establishing a properly constituted committee. A full list of eligible work can be found in the full scheme guidance. You can apply for this scheme at any time but you should only start work or buy materials you need after we have formally approved your application. If you have already received or applied for grant aid from any other public source to support this proposal, you cannot also apply under this scheme. To apply for this scheme, you should complete the application form and send it to your local area office for assessment. Before making your application, please consult the Capital Grant Technical Guidance 2015-2020. Capital Grant Technical Guidance If you need a printed form, please ask your area office to send one to you. Approximately £2 million will be available each year for this scheme until 2020. This is a competitive scheme and each application is scored using the selection criteria explained in the full guidance. Once that money has been allocated, we will close the scheme to applications until 1 January the next year. If we have to do this we will tell you on the updates section of this webpage. You must complete all approved work and submit your claims through the claim form within one year of the date we approved your application. A claim form will be sent to you if your application is successful. You can find detailed information about applying and claiming for this scheme in the full scheme guidance. Claims under this scheme should cover the total cost of your project. We will work out the grant due based on the lower of the eligible cost approved, or the actual eligible cost. The following rates apply depending on your circumstances. Individuals 80 per cent of approved costs in Less Favoured Areas (LFAs) and 60 per cent of approved costs in non-Less Favoured Areas for young farmers 60 per cent of approved costs in Less Favoured Areas (LFAs) and 40 per cent of approved costs in non-Less Favoured Areas for other farmers Groups 90 per cent of approved costs in Less Favoured Areas (LFAs) and 80 per cent of approved costs in non-Less Favoured Areas for young farmers 80 per cent of approved costs in Less Favoured Areas (LFAs) and 60 per cent of approved costs in non-Less Favoured Areas for other farmers For more information on what we mean by young farmer, please see the full scheme guidance. Payments can only be made after: you have completed the approved work you have made an eligible claim for payment if selected for inspection, we have checked the completed work We will make payments directly to bank accounts via BACS and aim to pay eligible claims within 90 days of receiving them. If we find you have not been following the terms of the scheme we will call this a breach and you could face a penalty. It is important that we penalise breaches to make sure we are acting within European Commission law. Further information why we need to penalise breaches can be found below. Disallowance and penalties There is no right of appeal against the refusal of an application but once an application has been approved, you can appeal against decisions to refuse, reduce or recover grant payment. When we send you a letter with a decision that you can appeal against, we will tell you about your rights of appeal. If you are unhappy about the standard of service you have received, you may wish to complain. Further information on how to appeal and complain about our services can be found in our dedicated sections. Appeals Complaints If you have any questions about this scheme, please get in touch. Contact details can be found in our Contact us section. Contact us Full scheme guidance Full guidance Forms PF08 - Crofting Agricultural Grant Scheme application form. Scheme delivery This scheme is delivered through: All schemes Advisory service Agritourism Investment Scheme (AIS) Agri-Environment Climate Scheme Basic Payment Scheme Closed/ Legacy Schemes Closed/ Legacy Schemes More... Related content Contact us This page in Gaelic