You may need to apply to the Environment Agency for an environmental permit if your business uses, recycles, treats, stores or disposes of waste or mining waste. This permit can be for activities at one site or for mobile plant that can be used at many sites.

You are breaking the law if you operate without a permit when you should have one.

There is separate guidance on how to register as a waste carrier if you are a waste transporter, buyer, seller, broker or dealer.

Ways you can meet the requirement

If you are carrying out a waste activity, you can meet the permit requirement using one of the following:

• a ‘regulatory position statement’ – the Environment Agency does not currently require a permit for that activity
• an ‘exemption’ – you do not need a permit for the activity, but you must still register your exemption with the Environment Agency
• a ‘standard rules permit’ – a set of fixed rules for common activities
• a ‘bespoke permit’ – tailored to your business activities

Check if your activity is covered by a regulatory position statement

A regulatory position statement (RPS) means that the Environment Agency will not normally take enforcement action against you if you have not applied for a permit provided:

• your activity meets the description set out in the RPS
• you comply with the conditions of the RPS
• your activity does not (or is not likely) to cause environmental pollution or harm human health

Each RPS has an expiry date. You should check with the Environment Agency before this expiry date to make sure they have not withdrawn the RPS. If they have, you may need to register an exemption or apply for a permit for your activity.

Check for an RPS if you are:

• using waste
• treating waste
• disposing of waste
• storing waste

Check if there is an exemption for your activity

Check for an exemption if you are:

• using waste
• treating waste
• disposing of waste
• storing waste

If your activity is covered by an exemption you will need to register it as exempt.

Each exemption has specific limits and conditions you need to follow. If you do not, the Environment Agency can cancel or ‘deregister’ your exemption.

Check if you can get a standard rules permit

You can apply for a standard rules permit if your operation meets the relevant description and rules, but:

• you cannot change (vary) the rules and you have no right of appeal against them
• if you want to change your operations and so will not meet the criteria of the standard permit anymore, you will have to apply to make it a bespoke permit instead
• if there is a change in your local environment after your permit has been issued (for example a change in the definition of a groundwater source protection zone) you may need to apply to change your permit

Read the standard rules if your activity involves:

• keeping or transferring waste
• biological treatment of waste
• metal recovery or scrap metal
• materials recovery and recycling
• recovery or use of waste on land
• treatment to produce aggregate or construction materials
• onshore oil and gas exploration and mining waste operations

Applying for a standard rules permit is quicker and costs less than a bespoke permit, but if you do not meet the conditions for the standard rules permits you must apply for a bespoke permit.

How to apply for a standard rules environmental permit

You can apply online for most standard rules environmental permits.

How to apply for a bespoke permit

You must apply for a bespoke permit if your operation does not fit the conditions of a standard rules permit.

Before you apply you must do all the following:

• check you meet the legal operator and competency requirements (including technical competency)
• develop a management system (a written set of procedures that identifies and minimises the risks of pollution)
• complete a risk assessment
• design your facility to avoid and control emissions
• check the technical guidance

If you are applying for a waste recovery permit to permanently deposit waste on land, you must also read the guidance on waste recovery plans and permits.

Bespoke permits: application forms

Download and fill in forms:

• part A: about you
• part B2: new bespoke permit
• part B4: new bespoke waste operation or part B5: new bespoke mining waste operation
• part F1: opra, charges and declarations

When you send your application you will need to include:

• forms part A, part B2, part B4 or part B5, and part F1
• the summary of your management system
• your risk assessment
• any other supporting documents mentioned in the form guidance, for example site maps and plans
• your fee

Email your completed forms to PSC@environment-agency.gov.uk or post them to:

Get help with your application

The Environment Agency offers basic pre-application advice to help you complete your application. This basic advice is free because the cost of providing it is included in the application charge.

For standard rules, mobile plant and bespoke permits the basic service covers the following advice (where applicable):

• which standard rules set is relevant for your activities
• helping you check that your activity meets the criteria for a standard rules permit
• carrying out nature and heritage conservation screening
• which application forms and guidance to use
• information about any administrative tasks the Environment Agency will need to do

For bespoke permits, the basic service also includes advice about risk assessments you may need to do to accompany your application.

If you need more in depth advice about your application the Environment Agency offers an enhanced pre-application advice service. The enhanced service costs £100 an hour plus VAT. The enhanced service can include face to face meetings and advice on:

• complex modelling
• preparing risk assessments
• parallel tracking complex permits with planning applications
• specific substances assessments
• monitoring requirements (including baseline)

The Environment Agency will give you a written estimate before they start work. This will include:

• a breakdown of the work they will carry out with costs
• when these costs will be charged

Getting pre-application advice will help you submit a good quality application that can be processed (determined) smoothly and quickly.
Complete the pre-application advice form if you want to request either basic (free), or enhanced (chargeable) pre-application advice.

If you cannot access the form please contact the Environment Agency and they can send you a paper copy to complete and return.

Keeping sensitive information confidential

When the Environment Agency consults on your permit application they will let people see the information in your application.

You can ask the Environment Agency not to make public any information that is commercially sensitive for your business (such as financial information). You can do this by including a letter with your application that gives your reasons why you do not want this information made public.

The Environment Agency will email or write to you within 20 days if they agree to your request. They will let you know if they need more time to decide.

If they do not agree to your request they will tell you:

• how to appeal against its decision
• how to withdraw your application

Fees and charges

You must pay a fee to apply for a permit.

You must send your fee with your application. If your application is successful, the Environment Agency will charge you an annual ‘subsistence’ fee while you have a permit. This fee depends on your activity and the type of permit you have.

Find out more about fees and charges. You can contact the Environment Agency for help to work out your fee.

After you apply

The Environment Agency may reject your application if, for example:

• you have not used the right forms
• you have forgotten to include the fee or sent the wrong fee
• you have not provided important information

Once the Environment Agency has the information they need to start assessing your application, they will contact you and tell you that your application is ‘duly made’. This means they are starting the assessment process. They may still request more information if they need it to complete their assessment.

Consultations on bespoke permit applications

The Environment Agency will publish online a notice of your application and instructions for how other people can see and comment on it.

Members of the public and anyone interested in the application have 20 working days to comment.

The Environment Agency may also consult other public bodies, for example local authorities, Public Health England, water companies, and Natural England.

If the Environment Agency considers your application to be of high public interest, they may:

• take longer to give you a decision
• carry out an extra consultation on the draft decision
• advertise the application more widely

The Environment Agency’s public participation statement explains how and why they will consult on permit applications.

Decisions about your permit

You should get a decision on your application within 13 weeks. The Environment Agency will tell you if your application will take longer.

You can appeal if the Environment Agency refuses your application.

You can also appeal if you’ve applied for a bespoke permit and you’re not happy with the conditions.

The decision letter will explain how you can appeal.

The Environment Agency will publish the decision on its public register.

When you get your permit

Find out how the Environment Agency will regulate you
when you start operating.

If you have been issued a mobile plant permit the Environment Agency must agree to the deployment of the plant before you operate. Deployment forms for standard rules permits are available on the same page as the standard rules themselves.

Apply to deploy mobile plant for bespoke activities using form MPD1.

Change, transfer or cancel your permit

When you have got your permit, you can:

• change (vary) the details on it
• transfer it to someone else
• cancel (surrender) it

Find out how to change, transfer or cancel your permit.

Contact the Environment Agency

Contact the Environment Agency if:

• you need help with your application
• you’re not sure if you need a permit

You may need an environmental permit if you discharge liquid effluent or waste water (poisonous, noxious or polluting matter, waste matter, or trade or sewage effluent):

• into surface waters, for example, rivers, streams, estuaries, lakes, canals or coastal waters (known as water discharge activities)
• onto or into the ground, for example, land spreading waste sheep dip, or discharging treated sewage effluent to ground via an infiltration system (known as groundwater activities)

You need to apply to the Environment Agency for a permit for any standalone water discharge or groundwater activity – standalone means the activity is not part of a waste operation, installation or mining waste operation.

If your water discharge is part of one of these operations, you can make the discharge part of your installation permit or waste or mining waste permit.

You’re breaking the law if you operate without a permit if you should have one.

When you do not need a permit

You do not need a permit:

• to discharge uncontaminated water, for example, clean rainwater from roofs or small areas of hardstanding to surface water
• to discharge uncontaminated water collected from public roads and small parking areas (that’s been through a maintained oil separator or sustainable urban drainage system) to surface water
• for certain low-risk groundwater activities, known as groundwater activity exclusions

For more information about the Environment Agency’s position on protecting groundwater, see Groundwater protection position statements. Position statement G12 on page 29 explains when you do not need a permit for discharge of clean roof water to ground.

Discharges in sewered areas

You should discharge your waste water to the public foul sewer whenever it’s reasonable to do so. You do not need an environmental permit to do this.

You must consult your sewerage undertaker before you:

• make a new connection to the public sewer
• discharge anything other than domestic sewage

Permits in sewered areas

The Environment Agency will not give you a permit for a private sewage treatment system if it’s reasonable for you to connect to the public sewer.

If the distance from the boundary of your site to the nearest public sewer is less than the number of houses multiplied by 30 metres, you must show the Environment Agency why it’s not reasonable to connect to the public sewer. In some cases, we may ask you to consider connecting to the public sewer if it’s more than the number of houses multiplied by 30 metres away. Contact the Environment Agency to discuss your proposal before you apply for a permit. You will need to:

• tell us how much it will cost to connect to the nearest public sewer
• give us a formal response from your sewerage undertaker
• tell us the cost of the private sewage treatment system you want to use

When we assess whether it’s reasonable for you to connect to the public sewer we take into account:

• the comparative costs of connecting to public sewer and installing a private sewage treatment system
• any physical barriers that would prevent you connecting to the public sewer
• any environmental benefits that would arise from installing a private sewage treatment system such as the reuse of of treated effluent

If you’re planning a new development, plan your foul sewerage at an early stage and consult with the local authority and sewerage undertaker.

We will not normally give you a permit if you want to use a private sewage treatment system because there’s not enough capacity in the nearest public sewer. If necessary, you must agree improvements to the existing sewerage network, in order to allow connection, with the sewerage undertaker. These improvements must be put in place before the development is occupied. This aligns with planning practice guidance and the building regulations.

Disputes over connection to the public sewer

Your sewerage undertaker may have a duty to provide a first time sewerage scheme if:

• your existing sewerage system is causing or is likely to cause an adverse effect on the environment or amenity which cannot be solved by repair or maintenance
• the new system will serve more than one property
• providing a public sewer is the most appropriate solution

Check the guidance for your activity

Your water discharge or groundwater activity may meet the conditions for an exemption from environmental permitting or a standard rules permit. For more information read the relevant guidance for:

• septic tanks, cesspools or small sewage treatment plants unless you have a package treatment plant and meet the requirements of the standard rules permit
• open-loop heat pump systems
• dewatering building sites and other excavations
• discharging substances as part of a groundwater tracer test or remediation scheme
• cutting vegetation in or near inland freshwaters

You’ll need to apply for a bespoke permit if none of the above apply to you.

Contact the Environment Agency if you’re not sure if you need a permit.

Type of waste water: domestic sewage or trade effluent

As part of your permit application, or to know whether your activity qualifies for an exemption, you will need to classify your waste water. Read more about when your waste water is classed as domestic sewage.

Standard rules permits for package treatment plants

You may be able to apply for a standard rules permit if you operate a package treatment plant for secondary treatment of domestic sewage.

Your package treatment plant must discharge between 5 and 20 cubic metres of domestic treated sewage to surface water daily (for example, your plant treats sewage from a small hotel or bed and breakfast, not a single household). If your sewage discharge to surface water is less than 5 cubic metres per day and you meet the general binding rules, you do not need a permit.

Your operation must meet the description and rules, but:

• you cannot change (vary) the rules and you have no right of appeal against them
• if you want to change your operations and so will not meet the criteria of the standard permit anymore, you’ll have to apply to make it a bespoke permit instead
• if there’s a change in your local environment after your permit has been issued (for example, a change in the definition of a groundwater source protection zone), you may need to apply to change your permit

Applying for a standard rules permit is usually quicker than a bespoke permit. If you do not meet the conditions for the standard rules permits you must apply for a bespoke permit.

Apply for a standard rules permit

Before you apply for a standard rules permit you need to:

• read the permit conditions to make sure you can comply with them
• read the instructions in the application form and form guidance
• complete and submit the nature and heritage conservation screening form before you submit your application – so the Environment Agency can check if any conservation sites, protected species or habitats could be affected by your activity
• read the generic risk assessment so you can understand the potential risks and make sure you manage them effectively
• check you meet the legal operator requirements
• develop a management system – a written set of procedures that identifies and minimises the risks of pollution

Standard rules permits: application forms

Download and fill in these forms:

• part A: about you
• part B1: standard facilities permit
• part F1: charges and declarations

Send your completed forms and application fee to PSC-WaterQuality@environment-agency.gov.uk or post them to:

Find out about:

• getting help with your application
• keeping sensitive information in your application confidential
• what happens after you apply

Before you apply for a bespoke permit

You need to:

• develop a management system (a written set of procedures that identify and minimise the risks of pollution)
• check whether you need to complete a risk assessment
• plan how you’ll control and monitor emissions

If you’re a water company or NAV (new appointments and variations) you must follow the guidance relevant to your activity:

• waste water treatment works: treatment, monitoring and compliance limits
• water companies: water treatment works discharge limits for environmental permits
• water companies: chemical dosing at waste water treatment works
• water companies: operator self monitoring (OSM) environmental permits
• water companies: environmental permits for storm overflows and emergency overflows

Specific substances assessment

When you apply for a permit you’ll need to tell the Environment Agency if your discharge will contain specific substances.

If your discharge contains specific substances your risk assessment will need to include a specific substances assessment.

Find the list of surface water specific substances in the surface water pollution risk assessment guide.

For discharges to groundwater, a specific substances assessment is needed for hazardous substances and non-hazardous pollutants. This does not include discharges that only contain or are only likely to contain ammoniacal nitrogen, ammonium and suspended solids. Find the list of hazardous substances and non-hazardous pollutants for groundwater on the Water Framework Directive UK TAG website.

Apply for a bespoke permit

Standalone water discharge and groundwater activity permit (not open-loop heat pump systems)

Download and fill in forms:

• part A: about you
• part B2: general new bespoke permit
• part B6: new bespoke water discharge and groundwater activity
• part F1: charges and declarations

Open-loop heat pump systems

Download and fill in forms:

• part A: about you
• part B8: apply for an environmental permit and full abstraction licence
• part F1: charges and declarations

Standalone groundwater discharges with spreading activities permit

Download and fill in forms:

• part A: about you
• part B2: general new bespoke permit
• part B7: waste sheep dip, waste pesticide washings or other waste
• part F1: charges and declarations

Send your application

When you send your application you’ll need to include:

• the relevant forms
• the summary of your management system
• your risk assessment if you’ve been required to do one
• any other supporting documents mentioned in the form guidance, for example, site maps and plans
• your fee

Email your completed forms to PSC-WaterQuality@environment-agency.gov.uk or you can post them to:

Get help with your application

The Environment Agency offers basic pre-application advice to help you complete your application. This basic advice is free as the cost of providing it is included in the application charge.

For standard rules and bespoke permits the basic service covers the following advice (where applicable):

• which standard rules set is relevant for your activities
• helping you check that your activity meets the criteria for a standard rules permit
• carrying out nature and heritage conservation screening
• which applications forms and guidance to use
• information about any administrative tasks the Environment Agency will need to do

For bespoke permits, the basic service also includes advice about risk assessments you may need to do to accompany your application.

If you need more in depth advice about your application the Environment Agency offers an enhanced pre-application advice service. The enhanced service costs £100 an hour plus VAT. It can include face to face meetings and advice on:

• complex modelling
• preparing risk assessments
• parallel tracking complex permits with planning applications
• specific substances assessments
• monitoring requirements (including baseline)

The Environment Agency will give you a written estimate before it starts work. This will include:

• a breakdown of the work it will carry out with costs
• when these costs will be charged

Getting pre-application advice will help you submit a good quality application that can be processed (determined) smoothly and quickly. Complete the pre-application advice form if you want to request either basic (free), or enhanced (chargeable), pre-application advice.

If you cannot access the form please contact the Environment Agency. It will send you a paper copy to complete and return.

Check that you meet the ‘legal operator’ requirements

You must be the ‘legal operator’ of the water discharge or groundwater activity that you want a permit for.

This means you must have sufficient control of the activity, for example you:

• have day to day control of the activity, including the manner and rate of operation
• make sure that permit conditions are complied with
• decide who holds important staff positions and have incompetent staff removed if required
• make investment and financial decisions that affect the performance or how the activity is carried out
• make sure that regulated activities are controlled in an emergency

You can have contractors carry out activities at your site and remain the operator if you continue to have sufficient control of the activity. But sometimes a contractor may be the legal operator or become the legal operator, based on the tests set out above. A remote holding company is unlikely to have sufficient control.

If you’re no longer the operator you must formally transfer the permit to the person who is the operator. If you continue to operate an activity when you’re no longer the legal operator the Environment Agency may take enforcement action against you or revoke the permit.

You must apply as a ‘legal entity’ that can be legally responsible for the permit and can accept liability, for example:

• an individual
• public limited company
• private limited company
• government body (for example, local authorities, NHS Trusts, Food Standards Agency)
• limited liability partnership

As the operator you’re legally responsible for the activity whether or not it’s in operation.

Your application can be refused if the Environment Agency does not consider you to be the operator or a legal entity.

Joint operators of one activity

If your activity has more than one operator acting together, you need to make one joint application for all the operators. For example if several people jointly operate a treatment plant then they would all be named on the permit.

Keep sensitive information confidential

When the Environment Agency consults on your permit application it will let people see the information in your application.

You can ask the Environment Agency not to make public any information that is commercially sensitive for your business (for example, financial information). You can do this by including a letter with your application that gives your reasons why you do not want this information made public.

The Environment Agency will email or write to you within 20 days if it agrees to your request. It will let you know if it needs more time to decide.

If it does not agree to your request it will tell you how to:

• appeal against its decision
• withdraw your application

Fees and charges

You must pay a fee to apply for a permit.

You must send your fee with your application. If your application’s successful, the Environment Agency normally charge you an annual ‘subsistence’ fee while you have a permit. This fee depends on your activity and the type of permit you have.

Find out more about fees and charges. You can contact the Environment Agency for help to work out your fee.

After you apply

The Environment Agency may reject your application if, for example:

• you have not used the right forms
• you’ve forgotten to include the fee or sent the wrong fee
• you have not provided important information

Once the Environment Agency has the information it needs to start assessing your application, it will contact you and tell you that your application is ‘duly made’. This means it’s starting the assessment process. It may still request more information if it needs it to complete its assessment.

Consultations on your permit application

The Environment Agency will publish online a notice of your application and instructions for how other people can see and comment on it.

Members of the public and anyone interested in the application have 20 working days to comment.

The Environment Agency may also consult other public bodies, for example, local authorities, Public Health England, water companies and Natural England.

If the Environment Agency considers your application to be of high public interest, it may:

• take longer to give you a decision
• carry out an extra consultation on the draft decision
• advertise the application more widely

The Environment Agency’s public participation statement explains how and why it will consult on permit applications.

Decisions about your permit

The Environment Agency will write to you to tell you its decision about whether or not it can allow what you’ve asked for.

You will normally get a decision on your application within 4 months. The Environment Agency will tell you if your application will take longer.

You can appeal if it refuses your application or if you’re not happy with the conditions it has put into your permit. Its decision letter will explain how you can appeal.

The Environment Agency will publish the decision on its public register.

The Environment Agency will not normally change your permit within 4 years of it being issued. However, it may change your permit if:

• you do not meet your permit conditions or environmental standards
• there are changes to legislation

Comply with your permit

After you’ve been granted your permit you’ll need to comply with its conditions.

Find out how the Environment Agency will regulate you when you start operating.

Change, transfer or cancel your permit

After you have your permit, you can:

• change (vary) the details on it
• transfer it to someone else
• cancel (surrender) it

Find out how to change, transfer or cancel your permit.

Contact the Environment Agency

Contact the Environment Agency if:

• you need help with your application
• you’re not sure if you need a permit

Use the capital grant application form with:

• annex 2 for a woodland creation grant
• annex 3 for a woodland management plan grant
• annex 4 for a woodland tree health grant

(Annex 1 removed as hedgerows and boundaries grant is closed for applications.)

If you do not have management control over all or part of the land included in the application for the full length of the potential agreement, you also need to complete a land ownership and control form.

For woodland creation grant applications on common land or land with shared grazing, you also need to complete a common land and shared grazing supplementary application form.

Online applications

You can use the Rural Payments service to apply for a woodland management plan grant. You do not need to complete the application form and annex if you use the online service.

A number of policies have been developed to increase the share of electricity generated from renewable sources including the RO / FIT compensation scheme and the CFD exemption. The costs of funding the CFD scheme are recovered through levies on suppliers and these are ultimately passed on to domestic and industrial consumers’ bills.

The government recognises that, in the short to medium term, the resulting increase in retail electricity prices risks reducing the competitiveness of the UK’s most electricity-intensive businesses where they are operating in internationally competitive markets. To address this, the government has developed an exemption scheme to exempt those energy intensive industries whose competitiveness may be most at risk.

These forms allow businesses to apply for an exemption from a proportion of the costs of funding the CFD and compensation for a proportion of the costs of funding the RO/FIT. Businesses which wish to apply for the RO and CFD exemptions should follow the exemption guidance on this page. Businesses applying for FIT compensation, or businesses in Northern Ireland, should use the compensation guidance.

See the list of companies awarded compensation.

Top tips for making a claim

1. You should make sure you sign and date your claim form. It should not be signed by agents or anyone who has helped you fill out the form. If you don’t sign the form it will be returned and payments will be delayed.

2. You should make sure the items you are claiming match the items listed on the offer letter. If they do not then you must contact the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) to discuss any changes.

3. You should make sure that any increases in costs being claimed or any other changes to your project have been approved by MMO in writing before you make your claim – this includes changes to suppliers. If the changes are not approved there is a risk that you will not receive your entire claim. Changes are things like additional unforeseen works, changes in costs due to increases in the cost of materials such as wood and steel.

4. You must supply original invoices or an email that you have received direct from the supplier with the invoice attached.

5. Provide a suitable audit trail to show how the invoice was paid either by cheque, bacs or faster payment, preferably in the form of a bank statement or online banking screen print. Cash payments are not acceptable as you cannot provide adequate evidence to support a cash payment.

6. Your payment will be delayed if you don’t send in all of the necessary information MMO needs to process your claim.

7. You must tell MMO as soon as possible if you will miss your claim date – this is in the claims schedule in your offer letter. If you need to change the claim schedule please submit a Notification of Change request via the e-system. The MMO will try and contact you if you go past your claim date but if we can’t get in touch with you, you could risk having your funding withdrawn.

8. If you have any queries about your claim contact MMO for advice.

Submit a claim for EMFF funds

You will need to submit a claim online in order to get your EMFF funds. Items purchased and claimed must be from the supplier stated in your offer letter and work must have started after you were sent confirmation that the MMO acknowledged your application. This date is in the offer letter. Any invoices dated prior to that date will be deemed ineligible and you will not be paid any grant money against those invoices.

You will only be able to claim once you have paid for all or some of the items outlined in your EMFF offer letter. You will need to provide evidence that you have done this when you submit your claim form. This evidence must be an invoice accompanied by proof that you have paid after the invoice was received, for example a bank statement.

Please make sure you fill in a SOP 7 form with your bank details so we can pay your funds to you. This form will be emailed to you with your offer letter. Once you have completed the form it needs to be emailed to emff.queries@marinemanagement.org.uk to enable your bank details to be set up on our payments system. If you have more than 1 project approved you only need to complete 1 SOP 7 form.

Claiming your grant money

The MMO will only pay you your grant money in arrears – you need to prove you’ve spent your money on the item or service by completing the online claim form in the e-system.

You will need to submit:

• dated invoices (example invoice) which show the amount of money you paid for each product or service you’re claiming
• proof of payment eg a bank statement
• a progress update on your project if it is required. See your offer letter for the progress report schedule

The MMO can decline to pay you part of the grant, or the whole grant, if we don’t think the information on your invoices is accurate, or the products or services you bought aren’t what was approved.

The conditions in your offer letter will explain about what you must do and the information you must send to get your grant paid.

Costs you can’t claim for

You must not claim EMFF grant money for the following:

• to pay interest on a debt
• to buy land or housing that’s worth more than 10% of your project’s total expenditure
• to pay your business’s operating costs, unless the MMO has told you otherwise
• if you have a loan on an item you have purchased you cannot claim for it until the loan is repaid
• any costs that you could recover in part or in total by making a claim on an insurance policy or by seeking compensation or damages

Reporting and inspections

Reporting your progress

You must give the MMO updates on your project as outlined in your offer letter which may be every 6 months, plus one performance report each year for the first 3 years. A reminder will be issued when these are due.

If you don’t carry out your project in accordance with the timetable in your offer letter, the MMO will ask you to explain the delay and any impact on your targets and benefits.

The MMO could then cancel your grant offer or change it depending on the reasons you give. Should this be the case a full explanation will be provided.

We may also decide to reclaim any funds you have already been paid.

The MMO can take criminal or civil action to reclaim any money we paid you if we find you gave false information in your application, or if you do any of the following:

• break the conditions in the grant offer letter
• use the money for a different purpose to what you said you’d use it for when you applied
• commit fraud

Inspections

You must let the MMO officials visit your vessel or other sites related to your project to check your progress and report it to the European Commission.

The following bodies can also inspect your project after you’ve been sent a grant offer letter:

• the National Audit Office
• the European Commission
• European Court Auditors
• any other agents deemed appropriate by the European Commission or MMO

They’ll usually give you at least 48 hours’ notice, but they don’t have to.

Reporting changes to your project

You usually need to apply to the MMO to change your project after you’ve signed and returned the offer letter, e.g. if you want to:

• change the make-up of your project matched funds
• increase or decrease the total cost of your entire project
• changes to the targets and benefits agreed in your offer letter
• use different contractors or suppliers to the ones agreed in your offer letter
• change the timetable of your project
• sell or dispose of any item of infrastructure purchased as part of your project
• stop any activity that’s part of your project
• change the location of the activity

You need to justify any changes by telling the MMO in your e-system account using a Notification of Change request.

If you change your project without telling the MMO, the MMO could cancel your grant award, change it or refuse to pay grant money for costs associated with the changes.

Any conditions in your offer letter apply for 5 years from the date your final claim is paid to you.

Retrospective amendments

Retrospective amendments cannot be considered. You must apply to the MMO to change your project before making changes including additional costs. If you modify your project without approval from the MMO the project or part of the project could be ineligible for payment.

Changing the cost of your project

If you increase the total cost of your project, the MMO will only pay you more grant money if we decide you couldn’t have predicted this increase when you were applying. You must contact us to discuss this as soon as you are aware of any changes in project costs.

If the total eligible costs of your project decrease, then so will the grant award.

Amendments where costs decrease

If you are making changes to your project that decreases your project costs and the targets and benefits will be delivered as planned you do not have to tell the MMO.

If you are making any changes to your project that decreases your project costs but the targets and benefits will not be delivered as planned you must inform the MMO as soon as possible so that options can be discussed.

Change of supplier

We understand that sometimes suppliers to your project have to change:

• if you need to change to a different supplier, if they supplied a quote on your original project application and the costs do not increase then you do not need to supply a new quote. If the costs have changed then you need to obtain a new quote from them and submit a change request form to MMO and get it approved before undertaking any changes
• if you need to change to a different supplier and they have not previously quoted even if the costs will remain the same you will need to obtain a new quote and submit a change request form to MMO and get it approved before undertaking any work.
• a rationale for all requested changes should be included in your Notification of change request.

Where a project is under the panel threshold and an amendment takes it over

Any project (whether approved by team assessment or panel) that has a cost increase of less than 10% of the total project cost can be assessed by team assessment. The MMO can choose to send any project decision or amendment to panel regardless of value if it is deemed necessary for reasons that can include but is not limited to complexity or risk to the EMFF fund.

Where a project was assessed by panel and the cost increase is greater than 10% of the total project cost the amendment must be assessed by panel at the next meeting or by written procedure if agreed. You will be informed by the MMO if this applies to you including the dates of the next panel.

If a number of amendments are received that collectively exceed 10% of the total project cost the MMO has the discretion to refer the requests to panel and to review the requests collectively. You will be informed if this decision is taken including the dates of the next panel.

Change to project manager within a company/project

If you have a change of project manager within your business or company you should inform the MMO in writing with the new contact details as soon as possible. If you don’t inform the MMO then it could result in your new project manager being unable to access or discuss the project.

Change of ownership

If you have had a project approved then you should not sell or dispose of any funded items of the project within 5 years of the date of the final grant payment. Consumables are exempt from this. (This is referred to as durability of operations).

If you sell or undertake any other action that changes the ownership of any funded item from the original applicant within the 5 years durability of operations the MMO must be informed in writing by you. This includes indirect changes e.g. where a premises or vessel on which the item is situated changes ownership.

It is your responsibility as the original applicant to inform the new owners of the funding obligations attached to the item. The new owners will be required to take on the terms and conditions of the grant for the time remaining up to 5 years of durability of operations. If the new owner of the item or items does not accept the terms and conditions of the funding then it is deemed that the item has not fulfilled its obligations to the scheme and therefore recovery proceedings may be started and funding recovered from you as the original applicant.

Declaring additional funding

If you apply for or receive a grant through another scheme, you must tell the:

• body that runs the other scheme that you’ve been accepted for EMFF funding
• MMO that you’ve been accepted for another grant

The MMO can decide that you’re no longer eligible for EMFF funding if you get money from another scheme, based on the:

• source of the money – you’ll be more likely to be ineligible for EMFF funding if you’ve got funding from another European Commission scheme
• amount of money you got from the other scheme
• conditions of the other grant

If you’re deemed ineligible, the MMO can take action to get money back from you, or cancel any payments that were due.

Moving your vessel outside the EU

You must not transfer a fishing vessel outside the EU for at least 5 years after spending EMFF grant money on it – if you do this you must give back part of the EMFF money you received.

The exact amount you have to pay back depends on when you transferred the vessel.

Records you must keep

If your application is successful, you must keep all documents related to your project for at least 5 years from the date of your last EMFF claim, including:

• licences
• consents
• quotes
• invoices
• receipts or other documents which record your spending
• all accounting documents related to your application
• claim forms

You must give the MMO or the European Commission any information or documents that they ask for at any stage.

The MMO may give your name and address to an independent person they’ve hired to evaluate your project.

You should also keep your project documentation under a separate accounting system or accounting code to ensure it is easily differentiated from your businesses other accounts and transactions.

Transparency Initiative

The MMO make public all beneficiaries of the grant aid from EMFF.

EMFF Transparency Initiative

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 151KB

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EMFF panel decisions

EMFF June 2016 panel decisions

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EMFF August 2016 panel decisions

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EMFF November 2016 panel decisions

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EMFF March 2017 panel decisions

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EMFF June 2017 panel decisions

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EMFF September 2017 panel decisions

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EMFF November 2017 panel decisions

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EMFF March 2018 panel decisions

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Contact us

Telephone: 0208 026 5539

Fax: 0191 376 2681

Email: emff.queries@marinemanagement.org.uk