Scottish Government

Cattle aged Eight Months and over

NOTES FOR GUIDANCE

INTRODUCTION

• These notes cover the Slaughter Premium Scheme (SPS) 2004. Please read them carefully to make sure that you understand the scheme requirements.
• For more information please contact your SEERAD area office. SEERAD staff can not give you specific business advice. If in doubt, you may wish to get help from a professional adviser.

Contents

1 Outline of the Scheme
2 Eligibility
3 Claiming Premium
4 Deadline for Receipt of Claims
5 Retention Period
6 Proof of Slaughter
7 Withdrawals and Notified Errors
8 Castle Inspections
9 Record Keeping
10 Penalties
11 Declarations and Undertakings
12 Payments
13 Citizen's Charter Targets
14 Data Protection Act 1998
15 Appeals/Complaints Procedures
16 Legal Base
Annex A : List of Addresses and Telephone Numbers

1 Outline of the Scheme

• The Slaughter Premium Scheme (SPS), funded by the EC, gives direct support to cattle producers.
• We pay premium on bulls, steers, cows and heifers slaughtered from the age of 8 months.
• You must keep the claimed cattle on your holding for a retention period of 2 months ending on the day before the date they leave your holding or the date sold, whichever is the sooner.
• Claimed animals must be slaughtered no later than one month from the end of their retention period.
• Claims should be submitted to your SEERAD area office and for each animal you claim you must include a movement card from either its passport or certificate of registration (CoR).
• Claims must be submitted within 6 months of the date the claimed animal ended retention, or by 28 February 2005, whichever is sooner.
• You may lodge up to 12 claim forms for animals slaughtered during the 2004 scheme year. The 2004 scheme runs from 1 January 2004 to 31 December 2004.
• You must keep a herd record book showing the ear tag numbers of all cattle on your holding, in accordance with the Cattle Identification Regulations.
• Although SPS is an IACS based scheme, producers wishing to claim SPS and/or VCSPS only do not have to submit an IACS Area Aid Application (AAA).
• After 16 October 2004 we can pay an advance, normally at a rate of 60% of the amount due. The balance will be paid between 1 April and 30 June 2005.
• Premium is only payable on cattle of a domestic species.
• We may carry out inspections of your holding to verify your claim.
• There is a separately operated element of the scheme known as the Veal Calf Slaughter Premium Scheme (VCSPS) for animals slaughtered at more than one and less than seven months of age. Information on the VCSPS can be obtained from Mrs Lynne Stewart, SEERAD, CAPM 2, Room 239, Pentland House, 47 Robb's Loan, Edinburgh, EH14 1TY.

2 Eligibility

2.1 Producers/Agents

A producer may be an individual, company, or partnership, or a group of individuals, companies or partnerships. You may authorise an agent to act for you and sign your claim form. Your claim form must bear the name and address of the producer who is eligible to receive the payment.

2.2 Holdings

Your holding is all the production units (farms/crofts) managed by you whether entered on your Area Aid Application (AAA) or not. If you manage more than one unit, then all your units will be taken together for the purposes of the scheme. The main farm code you enter on your claim form should be the same main farm code you enter on your AAA. Please refer to the 2004 IACS explanatory booklet for more information.

3 Claiming Premium

All claims must be submitted on a Slaughter Premium Claim Form (SPS1). You can get copies from your SEERAD area office.

To be eligible under the 2004 Scheme year the animal must be slaughtered between 1 January and 31 December 2004 (inclusive), and no later than one month from the date the animal left your holding or from the date it was sold, whichever is sooner. This may include animals which left your holding or were sold during December 2003.

3.1 Maximum number of claims

You may lodge a maximum of 12 claims for animals aged 8 months or over which have been slaughtered during the 2004 Scheme year.

The 12 claims may be submitted at any time between 1 January 2004 and 28 February 2005 provided that you meet the claim submission deadline. (see Section 4).

3.2 Animals which end retention in December

An animal ending its retention period after 1 December may be slaughtered outside the scheme year which you specify on your claim form. If an animal is slaughtered in the year following the scheme year specified on your claim form, your SEERAD area office will remove the animal from the claim without penalty. You may resubmit the animal on a claim for the following scheme year.

If an animal is slaughtered in the year preceding the year specified on your claim form we will remove the animal from the claim. Provided the 12 claim limit has not been reached, we will record the animal under a separate claim for the preceding scheme year and notify you of this action. If the 12 claim limit for the scheme year has been reached we will not pay premium on this animal.

3.3 Supporting documentation

For each animal claimed, you must attach one of the following to your claim form:

• a movement card from the animal's passport; or
• a movement card from the animal's certificate of registration (CoR); or
• a bar-coded print out from your farm software.

Before animals leave your holding for slaughter remember to retain a movement card to submit with your claim for Slaughter Premium. If you have not retained a movement card please contact your area office.

Do not send us the animal's passport. The passport must be completed in the usual way and given to the purchaser. A movement card must still be completed and sent to the British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) recording the animal's movement off your holding.

4 Deadline for Receipt of Claims

The deadline for submission of claims for the 2004 scheme year is six months after the date on which an animal ends its retention period or 28 February 2005, whichever is sooner. The retention period ends at midnight the day before the animal leaves the holding, or the day before it is sold, whichever is sooner.

4.1 Late claims

We will apply late claim penalties to individual animals where we receive the claim for an animal after the six month deadline or after 28 February 2005, whichever is sooner. We will reduce payment for each animal claimed late by 1% per working day, up to 25 calendar days after the deadline, unless you can give valid force majeure reasons for the late lodgement of your claim. If we receive a claim for an animal more than 25 calendar days late no payment will be made on that animal. Payments on other animals within the same claim which have been claimed timeously will not be affected.

Only in exceptional or abnormal circumstances, which could not be avoided by reasonable action can a late claim be accepted under the force majeure provisions. We will consider each claim for force majeure on its merits. We are required by the EC to apply the force majeure criteria strictly. You must notify your SEERAD area office in writing and specifically request that force majeure be considered. Your letter detailing why you could not submit your claim on time must reach your SEERAD area office within 10 working days of you being able to tell us, together with any detailed documentary evidence. If you do not notify your SEERAD area office in time we cannot consider your case for force majeure.

5 Retention Period

An animal on which you claim Slaughter Premium must have been kept on your holding for a 2 month retention period immediately prior to the animal leaving your holding for slaughter or prior to being sold, whichever is sooner. The retention period ends at midnight the day before the animal leaves the holding, or the day before it is sold, whichever is sooner.

If you sell an animal, for example at a market, but it is returned to your holding before being collected by the purchaser, the retention period will end at midnight the day before the sale. If an animal is returned to your holding either un-sold or not slaughtered, then the retention period is not interrupted provided there has been no change in ownership.

6 Proof of Slaughter

6.1 Approved abattoirs

To be eligible, animals must be slaughtered at an abattoir registered for the SPS by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) in Carlisle. A list of SPS registered abattoirs can be obtained from the RPA. (See Annex A for contact numbers).

6.2 Date of slaughter

To be eligible for Slaughter Premium an animal must be slaughtered before the expiry of one month from the date it ended its retention period (see Section 5). For example, if an animal leaves your holding on 15 January it must be slaughtered on or before 14 February if you are to receive premium. We shall check each claim to ensure that each claimed animal is slaughtered before the expiry of one month from the end of its retention period.

If a claimed animal is not slaughtered before the expiry of one month from the end of the retention period, we shall notify you. Slaughter Premium will not be paid on the animal.

6.3 Casualty animals

Animals which die or are killed on farm are not eligible for Slaughter Premium.

Similarly, animals which die en route to an abattoir are not eligible because they are not killed in an RPA registered abattoir.

6.4 BSE Offspring Cull animals

Cattle slaughtered under the BSE Offspring Cull are not eligible for SPS as they are slaughtered on farm.

6.5 TB reactors

Cattle identified as TB reactors are eligible for premium provided they meet all the eligibility criteria and have been killed in an RPA registered abattoir.

7 Withdrawals and Notified Errors

7.1 Withdrawals

You may withdraw an entire claim, or individual animals from a claim, at any time provided you make your request in writing and we have not notified you of an inspection or of errors in your claim.

7.2 Notified errors

If you realise you have included an animal that is not eligible for SPS and, provided we have not told you of an inspection or of errors in your claim, you may avoid penalties if you inform your SEERAD area office in writing.

The animal will be removed from your claim. You cannot substitute another animal for an ineligible animal.

Please note that it is not possible to correct a mistake which would involve increasing the number of animals claimed.

8 Cattle Inspections

We will check to make sure you comply with the rules of the scheme. You must allow us to count and inspect your herd at any reasonable date and time. We may ask you to gather your animals at a convenient place on the holding, and you must provide secure handling facilities to make an ear tag check possible.

Inspection visits may occur without notice and more than once a year. If you refuse to allow an inspection, or if you obstruct an inspecting officer or fail to give reasonable assistance, you will not be paid subsidy and you may be prosecuted.

Inspections will involve:

• all cattle on the holding being inspected, regardless of whether they are on a subsidy claim, and the result compared with the animals listed in your herd register and BCMS records;
• a records check for animals claimed in the previous 12 months. We will check that all retention periods have been complied with;
• a check of supporting documentation, for example purchase and sales receipts and slaughter certificates, to make sure that farm records are accurate; and
• a check to make sure that all animal movements have been correctly notified to BCMS.

By law you must allow our Inspectors to examine your records when they visit your holding. If your records do not support your current or previous claims you will lose premium and have to repay amounts already paid, plus interest.

If you do not hold the correct animal passports, or you do not record animal details correctly in your herd register, or your animals are incorrectly ear tagged, we may reduce or reject your claim.

The booklet 'Livestock Subsidy Schemes Penalties From 2002' provides information on how errors found at inspection will affect your payments.

9 Record Keeping

By law (the Cattle Identification Regulations 1998 (as amended)) you must keep a herd register detailing all the animals on your holding. You must keep accurate and up to date records. If you do not, we will not pay you subsidy under the livestock schemes. Also, the Trading Standards Department of your local authority has responsibility to enforce the law on herd records and cattle ear tags. Your records should cover:

• animal's official ear tag number;
• date of birth;
• sex;
• breed;
• animal's dam's ear tag number (if animal born on your holding);
• date of movement on to your holding and where the animal has come from;
• date of movement off your holding (including death) and destination;
• for an animal born before 1 January 1998, if the ear tag number has changed, the replacement ear tag number and the date of replacement.

If an animal has come from or is going to a market it is sufficient to record the market's address as the place of origin or destination.

When you submit your claim, you will give an undertaking to keep all records relating to the claim for 4 years, together with any other relevant documents, for example, sales receipts and purchase documents. To aid inspection of your claim, it would be helpful if you kept in your register a running total of the cattle on your farm, distinguishing between males and females. You may keep the register in a manual or computerised form. We will inspect your register and other records to verify your claim. If we cannot do so because, for example, your register and records are not up to date, you will lose premium. We strongly advise you to download the standard record format from our website at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/about/agriculture .

10 Penalties

We must administer the scheme strictly by the EC regulations and we do not have discretion to vary these rules. Make sure you understand your obligations and seek professional advice if necessary.

You will lose some or all of your premium if you do not comply with the rules of the scheme and the undertakings you give. If you have already been paid premium, you will have to repay it, in full or in part, with interest.

If you knowingly or recklessly make a false statement to be paid premium for yourself or another person you risk prosecution.

Our booklet ' Livestock Subsidy Schemes Penalties From 2002' gives details of the penalty structure for claimed and unclaimed animals. If you do not have this booklet, please ask your SEERAD area office for a copy.

10.1 Use of prohibited substances

We may exclude you from the scheme for a year if:

• we find that prohibited substances (for example, hormones) have been used on your cattle or are found on your premises; or
• residues of substances found in your cattle (for example, medicines) have been used illegally, or are found to be on your premises illegally.

We may exclude repeat offenders for up to 5 years. If you prevent us from carrying out inspections or sampling to check these provisions, we may exclude you from the scheme.

10.2 Animals on which penalties will not be applied

If your SEERAD area office accept that the following circumstances were beyond your control we will not pay premium on the animal(s) concerned and no penalties will be applied to valid animals on the claim.

• animals not slaughtered;
• animals not slaughtered before the expiry of one month;
• animals not slaughtered at an abattoir registered for the scheme;
• animals for which all the necessary kill details have not been recorded on the BCMS computer database;
• animals slaughtered in wrong scheme year.

11 Declarations and Undertakings

You should read the Declarations and Undertakings listed on your claim form before you sign it.

An additional declaration has been included: you must declare that the data kept on the cattle tracing database for your animals is correct and complete or that you will correct anything that is not. You must also declare that you will update all movements relating to your holding as and when they occur.

To check the data held on the database for your animals you can either visit CTS Online at www.bcms.gov.uk or request the details from the British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) on 0845 0501234.

12 Payments

We will make payments to your nominated bank account. If you want to change your bank information you should complete and return a BACS1 form, which is available from your SEERAD area office.

Your SPS payment will be in £ sterling based on 80 Euros per animal using the average rate of exchange in December 2003. At the rate of exchange on 1 November 2003, this would be worth £55.82 per animal reduced to £53.87 by modulation.

The EC rules do not allow us to make payment before 16 October 2004. After that we will normally pay 60% of the premium claimed on eligible animals. Early in 2005 we will calculate whether any reduction to claims arising from the regional ceiling is necessary. We will then pay the balance between April and June 2005.

12.1 Regional ceiling

There is an overall UK limit on the number of animals on which Slaughter Premium can be paid in any scheme year. If the number of animals claimed exceeds the UK limit, we will scale back proportionately the number of animals on which each producer is paid.

12.2 Modulation

Modulation is the recycling of a small proportion of direct payments made to farmers to help fund the Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP). Every pound recycled in this way will be matched by a further pound from the government and the total returned through the SRDP and other measures, to the rural economy.

Modulation is set at 3.5% for the 2004 scheme year. The payment advice letter we send you will detail the amount by which your payment has been modulated.

13 Citizens Charter Targets

We start to process your claim for premium when we receive your form, correctly completed and with supporting documents. Our targets are then:

• to issue you with a claim acknowledgement letter, within 14 days;
• to make advance payments by 31 December 2004 if the claim is received by 16 October;
• to make advance payments within twelve weeks of receipt if the claim is received after 16 October; and
• to make balance payments by 30 June in the year following the scheme year.

14 Data Protection Act 1998

The SPS is subject to the Data Protection Act 1998. The Data Controller is SEERAD.

SEERAD collects the data from SPS claim forms and the Cattle Tracing System (CTS) database to administer the SPS and other aid schemes. We will only disclose the information we receive from you to our authorised agents and others as the law permits and in accordance with Section A of the 2004 IACS AAA.

15 Appeals/Complaints Procedure

If you have a complaint about the service we provide, you should proceed as follows:-

15.1 - Appeals against decisions

If you are not sure why you have been penalised or do not fully understand our decision, you should contact your SEERAD area office for a fuller explanation.

If you are not satisfied with this explanation, you can have the decision reviewed under the EU Agricultural Subsidy Schemes Appeals procedure. You have 60 calendar days from the date of our decision letter in which to send your appeal. The appeal procedure consists of 3 stages: an in-house review, an external panel review and an appeal to the Scottish Land Court.

Full information on the appeals system procedures, including the timescale allowed for making an appeal, is given in the Department's information leaflet AP (EL) June 2001 which we sent to all farmers. Further copies are available from area offices or from the Appeals Secretariat, SEERAD, 47 Robb's Loan, Edinburgh, EH14 1TY. Please note that the appeals procedure does not handle complaints about standard of service.

15.2 - Complaints about standard of service

If you have a complaint about the standard of service we offer, you should:

• Contact the person at your area office who is dealing with your case. You may complain by letter, by telephone, or in person. If you want your complaint considered by a more senior officer, please write to the Principal Agricultural Officer at your area office. They will deal with the complaint if their staff are involved or forward it to the appropriate person. It will help us to investigate your complaint if you set out the facts as fully as possible, quoting your main farm code number. We will acknowledge your complaint by return, investigate it properly and aim to reply within two weeks.
• If you are not satisfied with the response, please write to the Chief Agricultural Officer, SEERAD, Pentland House, 47 Robb's Loan, Edinburgh EH14 1TY.
• You may also ask your Member of the Scottish Parliament or your Member of the UK Parliament to take up your complaint with the Minister for Environment and Rural Development, SEERAD, Pentland House, 47 Robb's Loan, Edinburgh EH14 1TY.
• You or a representative you authorise, may also ask the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman to investigate your complaint. Your representative may be an MSP, local councillor or any person you consider suitable to represent your interests. Your complaint must be submitted to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, 23 Walker Street, Edinburgh, EH3 7XH within 12 months after the day on which you first had notice of the matter. Further information about the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman is available at http://www.scottishombudsman.org.uk

16 Legal Base

General rules for the SPS 2004 are laid down in Council Regulation 1254/1999 on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal. Detailed rules are in Commission Regulation 2342/1999 as amended. The scheme is fully funded by the European Community.

As an IACS based scheme, it is also governed by Council Regulation 3508/1992 (as amended by 1593/2000), establishing an Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) for certain community aid schemes, and Commission Regulation 2419/2001, laying down detailed rules for applying the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) for certain community aid schemes.

ANNEX A - LIST OF ADDRESS AND TELEPHONE NUMBERS

HEADQUARTERS
SEERAD
SPS SECTION
Room 209
Pentland House
47 Robb's Loan
Edinburgh EH14 1TY
Tel No: (0131) 244-6406
Fax No:(0131) 244-6277

Rural Payments Agency (RPA)
Eden Bridge House
Lowther Street
CARLISLE CA3 8TX
Tel No.: (01228) 523400
Fax No: (01228) 640241