Cross-compliance and conditionality (Scotland): rules for keeping farm support payments
What cross compliance (the Statutory Management Requirements and Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions) asks of a Scottish farm or croft that claims support, who checks it, how payments are cut for a breach, and how the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act 2024 fits in.
If you claim Scottish Government farm support, you must meet cross compliance on all the land in your business for the whole calendar year, including seasonally rented land and common grazings. Cross compliance is a set of Statutory Management Requirements (SMRs) and Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions (GAECs). The Scottish Government's Rural Payments and Inspections Division (RPID) checks them, with other bodies such as the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) inspecting the animal parts, and a breach can cut your payments.
The Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act 2024 is the framework law for Scotland's four-tier support system: Base, Enhanced, Elective and Complementary. Sections 15 and 18 let the Scottish Ministers set eligibility criteria and conditions for support by regulations, and provide for checks, withholding of support, recovery and monetary penalties. The Act itself does not list the conditions. Rural Payments and Services guidance still describes cross compliance as resting on retained EU law and the Common Agricultural Policy (Cross-Compliance) (Scotland) Regulations 2014 (SSI 2014/325), so those remain the working rules. Check gov.scot and ruralpayments.org for any regulations made under the 2024 Act before you rely on this entry for a new claim year.
- Who must comply
- Anyone claiming the Basic Payment Scheme, the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme, the Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme, the Less Favoured Area Support Scheme or certain Scottish Rural Development Programme measures. You are responsible for your employees, family members and, depending on oversight, contractors
- Statutory Management Requirements
- Thirteen SMRs. SMR 1 nitrate vulnerable zones, 2 wild birds, 3 flora and fauna, 4 food and feed law, 5 hormonal and thyrostatic substances, 6 pig identification, 7 cattle identification, 8 sheep and goat identification, 9 TSE control, 10 plant protection products, 11 welfare of calves, 12 welfare of pigs, 13 welfare of farmed animals
- Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions
- Seven GAECs covering soils, habitats and landscape features. From 1 January 2025 GAEC 6 (soil organic matter) also protects peatland and wetland, and cultivating is prohibited alongside ploughing on rough grazing and semi-natural areas
- Whole Farm Plan
- From 2025 you must declare on your Single Application Form that you have carried out at least two of the five whole-farm audits or plans relevant to your business to stay eligible for Basic Payment Scheme support
- Who inspects
- RPID, with APHA and other bodies for animal checks. Inspectors look at land, animals (tags, welfare) and records, including nitrate vulnerable zone records. Selection is 75 per cent risk-based and 25 per cent random
- Usual reduction for a negligent breach
- 3 per cent of your payments, reduced to 1 per cent or increased to 5 per cent depending on severity. A minor breach may get a warning letter instead. Repeat negligent breaches are usually multiplied by three
- Usual reduction for an intentional breach
- Generally 20 per cent, reduced to 15 per cent or increased to anywhere between 20 and 100 per cent. Repeat intentional breaches are usually multiplied by two
- How the reduction is decided
- Five points are assessed. Intent, extent, severity, permanence and whether the breach has happened before
- Other consequences
- Payment withholding, and possible animal movement restrictions if you refuse an inspector access to your farm
- Legal framework
- Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act 2024 (framework powers), the Common Agricultural Policy (Direct Payments etc.) (Scotland) Regulations 2015 and the Common Agricultural Policy (Cross-Compliance) (Scotland) Regulations 2014 (SSI 2014/325)
What you must do
- Know which SMRs bite on your farm. The animal and nitrate SMRs are the ones most often checked. They are explained in the nitrate vulnerable zone, cattle identification, movement reporting and farmed animal welfare entries in this set, because a breach of those rules is also a cross-compliance breach.
- Protect peatland and wetland. Do not reseed or cultivate them, install new drainage or maintain drainage that dries them out, apply pesticides, fertilisers or soil conditioners, create roads or tracks, or let livestock expose the soil. Do not plant trees in a way that damages their hydrology.
- Complete your Whole Farm Plan activities. Carry out at least two of the five activities relevant to your business and declare them on your Single Application Form.
- Keep your records where an inspector can see them. Animal registers, passports, fertiliser and manure records and pesticide records are all inspected. Present animals safely, with suitable handling facilities, if an inspector asks.
- Act on an inspection report. If you are found in breach, correct it quickly. A repeat breach attracts a multiplied reduction.
Conditions change from one claim year to the next, and the Scottish Government's Rural Support Plan sets out how the four tiers will develop to 2030-31. Read the current year's scheme guidance on ruralpayments.org before you claim.