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Sheep Annual Premium Scheme Quotas - Explanatory Guide
ANNEX 1 EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES JUSTIFYING NON-USE OF QUOTA
Producers claiming exceptional circumstances should submit appropriate documentary evidence as indicated below.
Some of the circumstances described below may have resulted in a reduced premium claim or failure to submit a claim within the application period, but nevertheless premium may have been paid, on grounds of force majeure , on all the eligible animals on the holding. In such a case, quota is regarded as having been used against those animals. On the other hand, such a circumstance may have affected the premium claim but may not have resulted in payment on the grounds of force majeure. In such a case, the Department will take into consideration what opportunity the producer had, before submitting a premium claim, to dispose of surplus quota for the scheme year in question when assessing a producer's claim that exceptional circumstances prevented him or her from using quota. In cases of losses due to 'natural circumstances' duly notified to the Department, the quota relating to these animal numbers is counted as used.
Circumstances | Acceptable documentation includes: |
1. Death of an active member of the farming business. | 1. Death certificate. | In normal circumstances the Department will only accept as exceptional an illness or death in the year in which it occurred. |
2. Illness of the producer or an active member of the farming business. | 2. Medical certificate |
3. Disruption of the farming enterprise because of the building of roads, laying of pipelines, open-cast coal mining or other such disturbance beyond the producer's control. | 3. Evidence from the body responsible for the disturbance. |
4. Disruption of the farming enterprise due to gales, flooding, fire or similar cause, including the effects of damage to or destruction of buildings and fodder stores. | 4. Evidence of insurance claim and its payment or, if appropriate, Meteorological Office records. |
5. An epizootic (i.e. a disease which is temporarily prevalent rather than one which regularly affects animals in a particular district or at a particular season) affecting some or all of the person's flock. | 5. Veterinary evidence. |
6. Accidental death, compulsory slaughter under a disease eradication programme or slaughter on veterinary advice of some or all of the person's flock. | 6. Veterinary evidence. |
7. The theft of some or all of the eligible animals. | 7. Evidence of notification to the police or a copy of an insurance claim. |
8. Domestic difficulties which led to reduction in animal numbers, including: - partners separated;
- illness or death of family member other than active member of business;
- pregnancy (numbers of sheep reduced to avoid risk of infection).
| 8. Medical or other appropriate documentary evidence. |
9. Scheme penalty applied in one year leads to a ban on claiming premium in the following year. | 9. No evidence required from producer. Appropriate records will be held by the Department. |
10. Other exceptional circumstances. (Please note that a claim that a producer was unable to lease out quota because there was no demand for it on the market is not acceptable. When choosing to 'use' quota by leasing it out, the producer takes a risk that a demand for that quota will exist. The Department cannot be held responsible for fluctuations in supply and demand). | 10. Other appropriate documentary evidence. |
| It is safer to use your quota than to rely on an exceptional circumstance. |
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