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2022 SAF Forms – are you going online?

2 March 2022

The window for 2022 Single Application Forms (IACS) forms will open on the 15th March and close on Monday 16th May. In 2021 over 93% of forms were completed online. There are huge benefits to completing online if you don’t do so already.

The online form can be completed at the Rural Payments and Services website following the step-by-step process. By completing your SAF form online, you are reducing the risks of errors occurring as the system can confirm that you have met your greening regulations while the in-built validation feature will pick up where activity codes have not been entered or where areas declared for fields do not match the area held on the system.

For those with grass, another really useful feature is that your online SAF form will be pre-populated with grass ages. For example, if a field was permanent grass last year, that land use will already be listed against that field. Similarly for temporary grasses, the system will automatically increase the age by 1 year based on what was entered on your form last year. These are features that will save you a lot of time and effort.

For anybody who is thinking about completing online for the first time, there are three important things to do to get registered:

  • Create an online account with Rural Payments and Services – you will need an e-mail address for this. When creating your username and password, create a unique username that is not your e-mail address and passwords must be between 8 and 20 characters and contain one lowercase letter, one uppercase letter and one number.
  • Once you have registered, keep an eye out in your e-mails for a verification e-mail coming through which must be activated within 7 days of receipt.
  • Once your account is active, you need to login to Rural Payments and Services and ‘claim your offline identity’. For this, make sure you have your Business Reference Number (BRN); postcode; last 4 digits of your Bank Account number and last 4 digits of your telephone or mobile number to hand. There is a handy video here to show you exactly how to get registered to claim your fields.

If you are already completing online, then here are a few top tips on things to do or remember:

  • Check that you know your username and password so that you can easily get online to complete the form.
  • Check the contact details against your account are up to date so SGRPID can get in touch about your claim should they need to.
  • Finally, remember you can complete your SAF form in stages. You can save the form at any point and it will sit in draft mode under ‘Applications’ meaning you can return to it as many times as you need to before completing and submitting.

SGRPID have prepared a handy guide for online SAF submission should you require any further information.

If you any questions about completing your SAF form online, you can get 30mins free advice via the Farm Advisory Service helpline – call 0300 323 0161 or email advice@fas.scot.

Alternatively, your local SGRPID office can offer support including a computer to use or a meeting with a member of staff for support and guidance in completing the form.

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