The Agriculture Support Schemes (Eligibility, Enforcement and Appeals) (Wales) Regulations 2025 / Rheoliadau Cynlluniau Cymorth Amaethyddiaeth (Cymhwysedd, Gorfodi ac Apelau) (Cymru) 2025

Explanatory note

Reproduced verbatim from the instrument as published on legislation.gov.uk (Crown Copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0). The note is prepared by the responsible government department and is not part of the instrument itself.

These Regulations are made under the Agriculture (Wales) Act 2023 (asc 4) (“ the 2023 Act ”). Under the 2023 Act, the Welsh Ministers may provide support, financial or otherwise, for a range of purposes for or in connection with agriculture in Wales and ancillary activities that take place in Wales. This support may be provided subject to eligibility criteria being met and subject to any conditions the Welsh Ministers consider appropriate. These Regulations make provision in respect of support schemes under which the Welsh Ministers provide support, including in connection with checking eligibility for support and providing enforcement mechanisms where, for example, conditions under a scheme are being breached.

Regulation 3 places an obligation on the Welsh Ministers to check that a person applying for support under a support scheme meets the eligibility criteria for that scheme.

To allow the Welsh Ministers to determine whether an applicant meets the eligibility criteria for a particular scheme, regulations 4 and 5 enable the Welsh Ministers to request additional information from the applicant, and to notify an applicant where an application is incomplete or contains an obvious error. This provides an opportunity for an application to be corrected by the applicant.

Under regulation 6, the Welsh Ministers must refuse to award support under a support scheme in certain circumstances. If, however, exceptional circumstances exist, the Welsh Ministers may decide to provide support, even if one or more of the circumstances in regulation 6(1) are met. If the Welsh Ministers decide not to provide support, the applicant has the right to appeal under regulation 29.

Regulation 7 describes how payments under a support scheme may be made, including details of when the Welsh Ministers should and should not make payment and what other details may be required to make those payments.

Regulation 8 requires a person receiving support under a support scheme to provide information or evidence to the Welsh Ministers that may be needed in order to, for example, check that the agreement holder continues to meet the eligibility criteria and verify compliance with the scheme’s conditions.

Regulation 9 requires an agreement holder to keep records and provide the Welsh Ministers with copies of those records when requested.

Regulation 10 requires the agreement holder to notify the Welsh Ministers of any change in circumstances which might, for example, be expected to affect that person’s entitlement to support or the amount of support provided. The Welsh ministers may take certain steps as a result of such a notification, including amending or removing a condition within the agreement, terminating the agreement, recovering some or all of any support provided etc. If the Welsh Ministers decide to take one or more of those steps, the agreement holder must be notified of this, together with the reasons and the right of appeal.

Regulation 11 makes provision for the transfer of agreements provided certain conditions are met.

Regulation 12 requires the Welsh Ministers to ensure that certain information is published in relation to support which has been given under support schemes. Regulation 13 requires the publication of aggregated data in relation to support schemes.

Regulations 14 and 15 enable persons authorised by the Welsh Ministers (“authorised persons”) to carry out virtual and physical inspections for certain purposes, including verifying that an agreement holder is complying with the conditions of their agreement. Regulation 16 provides an authorised person with powers of entry for the purposes of enforcing the Regulations and for any of the purposes listed in regulation 17(1)(a) to (g). Regulation 17 provides powers of inspection for authorised persons to carry out activities such as inspecting land or premises, marking any animal for identification purposes, inspecting and copying documents or records.

Regulation 18 allows authorised persons, when carrying out a virtual or physical inspection, to be accompanied by any such person they consider necessary.

Regulation 19 identifies the circumstances which amount to a breach of these Regulations.

Regulations 20 and 21 make provision for the Welsh Ministers to investigate breaches of these Regulations, and other offences where they are relevant to the receipt of support. Any investigation must be proportionate to the type of breach suspected.

Under regulation 22, the Welsh Ministers must make a determination if satisfied that a breach of conditions has occurred or that regulation 19 applies, and they must make a further determination as to the seriousness of any breach, setting out appropriate steps, if any, that may be required in respect of the breach. Regulation 23 specifies the steps that may be taken by the Welsh Ministers where there has been such a determination, including the withholding of support, which includes financial support, recovering support previously awarded and prohibiting a person from receiving support under any scheme. Under regulation 24, the Welsh Ministers may choose not to take any of the steps set out under regulation 23 if there are exceptional circumstances. Regulation 25 sets out the Welsh Ministers’ duty to notify agreement holders of any determination under regulation 22 and the right to appeal under regulation 29.

Regulations 26 to 28 provide further information on some of the steps the Welsh Ministers may require to be taken under regulation 23.

Regulation 29 makes provision for appeals to the Welsh Ministers against certain decisions or determinations under these Regulations.