The Department of Agriculture has confirmed the details of the three-leg process now open to farmers participating in the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) who wish to contest the scoring of their commonage for determining result-based payment rates.

The first leg of the process will be an internal review of the contested score carried out by a farmer's co-operation project team.

This review will be undertaken by the contractor who carried out the scoring when the commonage lies outside of the scheme’s co-operation zones and was not scored by an ACRES team.

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A farmer must request an internal review within three months of receiving their commonage scorecard summary, after which a decision will issue to them.

This leg of the process will entail the internal review looking at all available data collected during the scoring, including the scorecard, photos, scorecard guidance and any notes that were taken by the scorer.

They may choose to undertake a site visit if it is deemed necessary.

Unhappy with initial review

Should the farmer remain dissatisfied with the outcome of this internal review, they may then submit a request to the Department for an internal review to be undertaken by Department officials.

This request to the Department must be made within 21 days of the issuing of the previous decision and the outcome of the first review must be submitted to the Department along with the request.

The Department has said it will review all available information before issuing its decision on the appeal to both the farmer and the respective ACRES team or contract scorer.

Dissatisfaction with Department decision

For those still dissatisfied with the treatment of their review, the Department itself may then appeal to the independent Agriculture Appeals Office (AAO) within three months of receiving the Department’s decision letter.

Appealing to the office can be done via an online form or by submitting an appeals form by post.

Those appealing to the AAO will be asked to submit any relevant documents that they wish to have considered as part of their bid to overturn an ACRES commonage scoring, as well as the “facts and contentions” of their case that they wish the appeals officer should consider.

The office deals with most scheme appeals, adjudicating on matters including scheme payment penalties and scheme eligibility issues.

The appellant may nominate two representatives to bring to their hearing and they can request that their hearing takes place in person or online.

The necessary forms can be found here.