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The Environment Secretary has today announced that the Payment by Results (PBR) project will be the first agri-environment scheme directly funded by the UK.

In future, all the funding for the Payment by Results (PBR) pilot will come from Defra, with a £540,000 boost announced today to pay farmers according to the environmental outcomes they achieve over the next two years.

The project is paying participating farmers in two areas – Norfolk and Suffolk in the East of England and Wensleydale in Yorkshire – for work that is specifically tailored to the environmental needs of their area. For example, in Norfolk and Suffolk farmers are benefitting from planting nectar plots for bees and other pollinators, while those in Wensleydale are focused on managing species-rich meadows.

Today’s announcement follows the government’s public consultation on future farming policy which set out plans to move towards a system where farmers are paid according to the public goods they provide. As we leave the EU, there will be further trialling work to reach a model where profitable farm businesses and environmental land management can co-exist and complement one another.

Secretary of State for Defra, Michael Gove, said:

Under the CAP, agri-environment schemes have been overly bureaucratic and inflexible. This has impeded innovation for farmers who are passionate about the environment and want to see real change.

The Payment by Results pilot marks a shift in how we think about rewarding farmers for their work. This approach signals how we see the future of farm payments, where farmers deliver public goods for the environment which we all enjoy.

I am delighted to extend this scheme and look forward to seeing further evidence of its success as we plan for our future outside the EU.

The PBR project had been due to conclude at the end of this year, but Defra’s new funding will enable participating farmers to deliver environmental benefits for an additional two years.

The trial is focused on providing training and guidance for farmers so they are empowered to create their own management plan for their land, and feel more knowledgeable about what they want to achieve, and why. This flexibility has meant participants have become more engaged in the wildlife they want to see on their land and think more creatively about how to achieve these results.

In Wensleydale, the PBR pilot is delivered by Natural England in partnership with the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority. It has proved popular with participating sheep and cattle farmers managing grassland in the area, who have been rewarded for producing habitat suitable for breeding waders, or for managing species-rich meadows.

Arable farmers in Norfolk and Suffolk have been paid for their management of plots that provide winter food for farmland birds during the “hungry gap” when natural sources of seed food have been depleted. They have also planted and maintained flower-rich foraging habitat for pollinators, protecting this hugely important part of the ecosystem.

Chairman of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, Carl Lis, said:

I am delighted that the Government has funded an extension and expansion of the Wensleydale payment by results pilot scheme. The pilot scheme has been a hit with farmers because it has been designed and delivered locally – and because it puts the farmer back in control of how the land is managed, rather than having to follow very detailed and rigid prescriptions.

With support from our farm team advisers, and the Natural England Project Manager, the 19 farmers in the scheme have produced some excellent environmental results in a short time. They have received payments for making their pastures into good habitat for wading birds, or for restoring and conserving species-rich hay meadows – which are no doubt the jewel in the crown of the Yorkshire Dales National Park’s farmed landscape. The better the environmental results, the more they get paid.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is urging UK taxpayers to come forward and declare any foreign income or profits on offshore assets before 30 September to avoid higher tax penalties.

New legislation called ‘Requirement to Correct’ requires UK taxpayers to notify HMRC about any offshore tax liabilities relating to UK income tax, capital gains tax, or inheritance tax.

However, some UK taxpayers may not realise they have a requirement to declare their overseas financial interests. Under the rules, actions like renting out a property abroad, transferring income and assets from one country to another, or even renting out a UK property when living abroad could mean taxpayers face a tax bill in the UK.

The Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Mel Stride MP, said:

Since 2010 we have secured over £2.8bn for our vital public services by tackling offshore tax evaders, and we will continue to relentlessly crack down on those not playing by the rules.

This new measure will place higher penalties on those who do not contact HMRC and ensure their offshore tax liabilities are correct. I urge anyone affected to get in touch with HMRC now.

From 1 October more than 100 countries, including the UK, will be able to exchange data on financial accounts under the Common Reporting Standard (CRS). CRS data will significantly enhance HMRC’s ability to detect offshore non-compliance and it is in taxpayers’ interests to correct any non-compliance before that data is received.

The most common reasons for declaring offshore tax are in relation to foreign property, investment income and moving money into the UK from abroad. Over 17,000 people have already contacted HMRC to notify the department about tax due from sources of foreign income, such as their holiday homes and overseas properties.

Customers can correct their tax liabilities by:

• Using HMRC’s digital disclosure service as part of the Worldwide Disclosure Facility or any other service provided by HMRC as a means of correcting tax non-compliance.
• Telling an officer of HMRC in the course of an enquiry into your affairs.
• Or using any other method agreed with HMRC.

Once a customer has notified HMRC by 30 September of their intention to make a declaration, they will then have 90 days to make the full disclosure and pay any tax owed.

If taxpayers are confident that their tax affairs are in order, then they do not need to worry. If anyone is unsure, HMRC recommends they seek advice from a professional tax adviser or agent.

Further Information

1. Examples of offshore assets include: art and antiques; bank and other savings accounts; boats; cash; debts owed to you; gold and silver articles; government securities; jewellery; land and buildings, including holiday timeshare; life assurance policies and pensions; other accounts, such as stockbroker’s or solicitors’; other bond deposits and loans including personal portfolio bonds; rights or intellectual property including image rights; stocks and shares; trusts including employee benefit trusts and self-employed persons trusts; and vehicles.
2. New ‘Requirement to Correct’ legislation was introduced as part of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2017.
3. Further guidance on Requirement to Correct is available on GOV.UK.
4. Follow HMRC’s Press Office on Twitter @HMRCpressoffice.
5. HMRC’s Flickr channel.

Azam Ali was the sole registered director of the company Pabna Restaurant Ltd (Pabna), which traded as an Indian restaurant in Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

The restaurant began trading in 2006 as a family business owned by Azam Ali’s brother before Azam Ali took over the business in 2011. He then incorporated it as a limited company in March 2012.

The company catered to the West Yorkshire area and traded from property which the company owned in Ropergate, Pontefract. But in April 2017, the company entered into voluntary liquidation having not paid the right amount of tax.

The Insolvency Service carried out investigations following the company’s liquidation and found that Azam Ali caused the company to suppress and conceal sales figures, which meant the company under-declared and underpaid the correct amount of tax.

As a result, on 7 June 2018 the Secretary of State accepted a disqualification undertaking from Azam Ali where he did not dispute the Insolvency Service’s findings.

Effective from 28 June 2018, Azam Ali is now banned from directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company for 9 years.

Commenting on the disqualification, Lawrence Zussman, Deputy Head of Investigations for the Insolvency Service said:

The majority of businesses comply with statutory legislation. However, some companies fail to do so and deliberately underpay their taxes.

The ban of Azam Ali demonstrates our determination to clamp down on those directors who avoid paying the correct levels of tax and we will levy hefty periods of disqualification whether they cooperate or not.

Notes to editors

Azam Ali stated he is of Bangladeshi nationality and gave his date of birth as November 1978.

Pabna Restaurant Ltd (Company Reg no. 07990640) and traded from property which the company owned at 19, Ropergate, Pontefract WF8 1LG.

Disqualification undertakings are the administrative equivalent of a disqualification order but do not involve court proceedings. Details of Azam Ali’s disqualification is found here.

A disqualification order has the effect that without specific permission of a court, a person with a disqualification cannot:

• act as a director of a company
• take part, directly or indirectly, in the promotion, formation or management of a company or limited liability partnership
• be a receiver of a company’s property

Persons subject to a disqualification order are bound by a range of other restrictions.

The Insolvency Service administers the insolvency regime, investigating all compulsory liquidations and individual insolvencies (bankruptcies) through the Official Receiver to establish why they became insolvent. It may also use powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK. In addition, the agency authorises and regulates the insolvency profession, deals with disqualification of directors in corporate failures, assesses and pays statutory entitlement to redundancy payments when an employer cannot or will not pay employees, provides banking and investment services for bankruptcy and liquidation estate funds and advises ministers and other government departments on insolvency law and practice.

Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.

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