Amid continued uncertainty over the future of the Basic Payment Scheme, AECS offers a secure and guaranteed income stream over a five-year period. Recent Galbraith applications for the 2025 round have ranged from £40,000 to £249,000 over the term of the grant.

Beyond providing additional funding, the scheme enables farms and estates to create value from areas that may be less productive agriculturally. Many land managers are also aiming to enhance biodiversity, improve water quality and reduce flood risk across their holdings. AECS plays a key role in supporting the maintenance, restoration and improvement of such areas.

The scheme is divided into management options and capital items. Management options relate to the environmental commitments themselves for example, moorland management, wetland management and wader grazed grassland management. There are also arable-based options such as forage brassicas for farmland birds, stubbles followed by green manure in an arable rotation and wild bird seed for farmland birds.

These options may provide more income per hectare currently than crops such as spring barley, but may also increase the margin per year if they can be included alongside growing crops. Capital items support the delivery of these commitments and may include livestock fencing, gates and bracken control. There are also stand-alone capital items available, such as pond creation.

The AECS process begins by the allocation of a ‘holding number’ to identify eligible options for each business. We then carry out a site visit and use mapping software to assess where each option would be best placed on the ground. From this assessment, we prepare a financial summary outlining projected returns for each option and the split between management and capital items.

A points scoring assessment is also completed at this stage, and we make a professional judgment on the level of scoring per application.

Once the proposed scheme layout and financial summary are finalised, we present these to the client for approval. If they wish to proceed, we prepare and submit the full application, including maps, supporting documentation and all required information for the Scottish Government.

The application window opens at the beginning of February and closes on Saturday 20 June 2026.