Biodiversity Net Gain
Biodiversity Net Gain: Rules & Compliance
The rules that apply, the evidence they demand and how it is assembled.
Compliance in UK farming is mostly a records problem rather than a practice problem — the work is usually done correctly and evidenced badly. Biodiversity Net Gain created a statutory market for habitat units with a legally secured thirty-year management obligation. This module assesses baseline and uplift using the statutory metric, models the income against the land use given up, manages gain site registration and the legal agreement, and holds the monitoring record for the full commitment period.
Detail
The regulatory position
Biodiversity Net Gain created a statutory market for habitat units with a legally secured thirty-year management obligation. This module assesses baseline and uplift using the statutory metric, models the income against the land use given up, manages gain site registration and the legal agreement, and holds the monitoring record for the full commitment period.
Biodiversity Net Gain became mandatory for major developments from 12 February 2024 and for small sites from 2 April 2024, with a minimum ten per cent gain and habitat secured for thirty years. Natural England operates the Biodiversity Gain Sites Register with a £639 application fee and sells statutory credits deliberately priced to be uncompetitive with the private market, from around £42,000 per credit. Third-party trackers have reported the market at roughly £93 million across 312 registered sites, a figure that comes from commercial sources rather than an official register.
Everything Biodiversity Net Gain records is written into the same platform data spine as every other module, which is why a single entry can satisfy an operational need, a scheme evidence requirement, an assurance clause and a carbon activity line at once. That is the whole design premise: the work is already being done, and it is the recording of it that is duplicated.
Before you start
What you will need, and what the module handles for you
Most of this comes across automatically once your holding is registered. The list is here so nothing arrives as a surprise.
Eligibility check
Could your holding claim for biodiversity net gain?
Four questions, no account, no email. The check reports what the published rules say and flags where they are open to interpretation — it is not a decision, and it is not advice.
What the check can tell you
-
Appears to meet the published criteria
On what you have told us, the published eligibility rules appear to be met. The next step is to confirm against the current scheme guidance and check the window is open.
-
Depends on something we cannot see
Your answers hit a condition that turns on detail we have not asked for — commonly tenancy consent, a parcel-level designation, or an overlapping agreement. The check names which condition it is.
-
Does not appear to qualify as described
One of the published criteria appears not to be met. The check says which one, because criteria change and because there is often an alternative scheme that does fit.
Schemes and funding
Support schemes this module works with
Agrivencia holds these schemes as data, so eligibility, payment rates, caps and windows update the day they change rather than at the next software release.
Biodiversity Net Gain
Require development to deliver a measurable net gain in biodiversity, creating a market for habitat units.
Natural England / local planning authorities EnglandCountryside Stewardship
Fund more complex, targeted and bespoke habitat management than the main incentive offer supports.
Defra / Natural England / Rural Payments Agency EnglandSustainable Farming Incentive 2026
Pay farmers for environmental actions taken alongside food production, as the principal replacement for area-based direct payments in England.
Defra / Rural Payments AgencyRates, caps and windows change frequently and sometimes without notice. Always confirm against the current published scheme rules before applying.
Payment schedule
What is due, and when it lands
Farm support arrives in instalments from several bodies on different calendars. Set against your own overdraft, the question is not how much but when — so the ledger is ordered by date, not by scheme.
| When | Payment | From | Amount | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February | Biodiversity Net Gain | Natural England / local planning authorities | — | Expected |
| March | Countryside Stewardship | Defra / Natural England / Rural Payments Agency | — | Agreed |
| June | Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026 | Defra / Rural Payments Agency | — | Eligible |
| June | Environmental Land Management Capital Grants | Defra / Rural Payments Agency | — | Eligible |
| December | Farming Equipment and Technology Fund | Defra / Rural Payments Agency | — | Eligible |
| February | Farming Transformation Fund | Defra / Rural Payments Agency | — | Eligible |
- — Agreed and scheduled
- — Claimed, awaiting payment
- — Eligible, unclaimed
What the statuses mean
- Agreed
- Under a signed agreement with a scheduled payment date.
- Expected
- Claimed and assessed; payment date per the published standard.
- Eligible
- Your holding appears to qualify but nothing is claimed yet.
Risks, stated plainly
What could go wrong, and what we do about it
Every one of these is a real constraint rather than a hypothetical. They are listed because a platform that hides them is harder to trust than one that names them.
| The risk | What we do about it |
|---|---|
| Thirty-year obligation misunderstood at signature | mitigated by explicit long-horizon modelling |
| Habitat failing to reach target condition | mitigated by realistic condition targets and monitoring |
| Market price uncertainty | disclosed using ranges rather than a single figure |
How we handle evidence
Where these figures come from
Agrivencia grades every figure it publishes. Primary legislation, official statistics and audit reports are treated as authoritative. Levy body and professional body data is treated as reliable. Commercial trackers and trade press are treated as indicative and labelled as such. Where sources conflict, the conflict is shown rather than resolved silently.
- Authoritative Legislation, statutory instruments, official scheme rules, national audit and public accounts reporting, departmental annual reports and accredited official statistics.
- Reliable Parliamentary committee evidence, peer-reviewed research, independent economic institutes and levy body analysis.
- Supporting Professional bodies, land agents, certification schemes and industry associations.
- Indicative Commercial market trackers and trade press, used for corroboration only and always labelled.
Payment rates, caps and windows in UK farm support change frequently and sometimes without notice. Nothing on this platform is a substitute for the current published scheme rules or for professional advice.
Questions answered
What people ask about Biodiversity Net Gain
Does this replace the software I already use?
Not necessarily. Agrivencia integrates with authoritative sources and mainstream packages rather than insisting on replacing them. Where an incumbent does one job well, the platform connects to it; where the job spans several systems and nobody does it, the platform does it.
Will it work where I have no signal?
Yes. Field capture in Biodiversity Net Gain is offline first, storing locally and synchronising when a connection returns. Only around a fifth of UK farms report reliable signal across the whole holding, so this is a design assumption rather than a feature.
What happens when the scheme rules change?
Scheme rules are held as data rather than code, so a rate change, a cap change or a window closure is a content update that takes effect the same day. The platform also alerts you to what the change does to your own position.
Who owns the data I put in?
You do. The Farm Data Charter gives you a complete export in open formats at any time, and every instance of data sharing requires an explicit, revocable consent that is visible in your account.
Does it work if I farm across a border?
Yes, and that is one of the main reasons the platform exists. A business with land in more than one nation sees one reconciled view rather than two portals, with obligations and deadlines from both administrations in a single calendar.
Can my agronomist or land agent use it too?
Yes. You grant scoped, time-limited access per holding and per module, and you can revoke it in one click. Advisers never get a shared password or a blanket view.
What is the biggest limitation of this module?
Thirty-year obligation misunderstood at signature. Mitigated by explicit long-horizon modelling. We would rather state that plainly than let you discover it after signing.
See Biodiversity Net Gain running on your own holding
Thirty minutes, using your parcels, your schemes and your enterprises rather than a sample farm. No obligation and no sales script — if it does not fit your business we will say so.
- Free tier available
- No card required
- Your data stays yours