The Rural Payments Agency has confirmed the 2026 Capital Grants offer is open. There is no closing date. It closes when the money runs out — and the RPA will give "reasonable notice" before that happens, which is not the same as saying you will have plenty of time.
If you are planning to apply, the preparation matters more than the application itself.
What the 2026 Capital Grants Offer Covers
Capital Grants fund physical works on land — fencing, hedgerow restoration, water quality measures, woodland creation, natural flood management infrastructure, and more.
The 2026 offer has 80 capital items split across six groups:
| Group | Funding cap |
|---|---|
| Air quality | £25,000 |
| Natural flood management | £25,000 |
| Water quality | £25,000 |
| Boundaries, trees and orchards | £35,000 |
| Assessments | No cap |
| Improvements | No cap |
One eligible application per Single Business Identifier, per calendar year. If you have multiple land parcels under different SBIs, that changes the picture.
How Capital Grants Fit With SFI and Countryside Stewardship
Capital Grants can be used as standalone funding or alongside existing environmental land management agreements. That includes:
- Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI)
- Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier
- CS Higher Tier agreements starting from 2025
- Environmental Stewardship Higher Level Stewardship
This is worth paying attention to. If you are already in SFI or planning to enter it, Capital Grants can layer on top — provided you are not double-counting the same activity for public money twice. The RPA will carry out checks on this.
What You Need to Prepare Before Applying
This is where most applications run into trouble. The RPA guidance, updated on 28 May, is explicit that some capital items will be removed from your application if you cannot demonstrate the necessary support before submitting. Do not wait until you are filling in the form.
Maps. You will need to show exactly where capital works will take place. Land parcel registrations must be accurate. If your mapping is out of date in the Rural Payments service, sort that first.
Catchment Sensitive Farming support. Some capital items — particularly water quality-related ones — require CSF support before they can be approved. CSF area teams are not currently prioritising new advisory visit requests, but existing CSF support from the last two years may be sufficient. Check what you have. If CSF support is not in place when you apply, the relevant items will be removed.
Consents, permits and permissions. You will not be paid for works where the required consents were not in place before work began. This includes Natural England consent for SSSIs, Scheduled Monument Consent, planning permission, Environment Agency permits, and protected species licences. If your site involves any of these, build in lead time.
Landlord countersignatures. Tenants need management control of the land for five years from the start of the agreement. If your tenancy does not cover that period, you will need your landlord to countersign. That conversation takes time.
Accountant letter. If the total value of your Capital Grants application exceeds £50,000, the RPA requires a statement from an accountant confirming the business has sufficient resources to complete the work.
What the Scheme Will Not Pay For
The guidance is clear on exclusions. Capital Grants cannot fund:
- Works already completed before the agreement starts
- Agent fees, advisory fees, legal fees, or planning application costs
- Materials bought before the agreement begins
- Any works already funded by another public grant or legally binding obligation
This last point matters if you are combining Capital Grants with other schemes. The double-funding prohibition is firm, and the RPA will check.
What We Still Do Not Know
The offer is open now but there is no published budget figure and no announced closing date. The RPA has said it will share updates through the Farming Blog when closure is approaching. Watch that channel. Applications that are started but not submitted when the offer closes will not be accepted.
What to Do Now
If you are considering a Capital Grants application this year, the practical steps are the same whether you apply next week or in September:
- Check your land parcel registrations in the Rural Payments service and correct anything that is inaccurate.
- Identify which of the 80 capital items are relevant to your farm and the group they fall into.
- Check whether any items require CSF support, and whether existing CSF advisory records are recent enough to count.
- Identify any consents or permissions you would need, and start the process.
- If your application is likely to exceed £50,000, speak to your accountant now.
- If you are a tenant, review your tenancy terms and have the landlord conversation early.
The application itself is done online through the Rural Payments service. The preparation is done on your farm, in your files, and in conversations that take time to complete.
Keeping Track of It All
Managing a Capital Grants application alongside an existing SFI agreement, CS obligations, and the wider paperwork load of running a farm is a real administrative burden. Mapping where works need to happen, tracking what evidence you have, and keeping agreement rules straight across multiple schemes is the kind of thing that tends to pile up.
JustFarm is built for exactly this. It is a planning system, mapping tool, and evidence organiser designed to reduce the admin load of managing SFI, Countryside Stewardship, and capital funding on working farms. The free plan gets you started. If you are juggling multiple agreements or managing land for more than one client, explore the SFI page or view pricing to see what the Pro plan covers.
Preparation is the work. The application is just the form.
