Farmers and crofters are being urged to complete and return acceptance letters for the National Basic Payment Support Scheme by Friday September 27.
The scheme offers eligible producers interest-free loans for up to 95% of their 2019 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments. Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing said although the loans were first introduced due to problems with the Scottish Government’s farm payments IT system, this year’s loan scheme was designed to help safeguard farmers against Brexit.
“A no-deal Brexit carries with it risks for the rural sector,” said Mr Ewing.
“The biggest single way I can help is to provide money in the bank accounts of farmers and crofters.”
He said the scheme was more like a means of issuing advanced payments, rather than a loan and interest will only be applied in instances where people are late paying back any overpayments.
A senior government official said 16,835 loan offer letters had been issued and as of yesterday, 12,615 acceptance letters returned. He said the first batch of payments was due to be made on October 4 and farmers needed to return their acceptance letters by next Friday to be included.
Mr Ewing added: “Please return the acceptance letters as quickly as possible.”