SFI26 is closed. Window 2 opened on the morning of Tuesday 22 September and Defra shut it at 15:48 the same day, because enough applications had come in to allocate its whole budget. If you submitted one, it is in the queue. If you started one and had not pressed submit by then, it will not go through, unless you are in one of two small groups we cover below.
We know that will land hard on anyone who meant to sit down to it this week. When we wrote about Window 2 last week, Defra had not published a closing date, and it never did: its opening post said the window would close once all the funding had been allocated. It took under six hours.
The day, hour by hour
Defra promised to post on its Farming blog as the money went, and it did. Every time below is from those posts.
- 10:02 — Window 2 opens, to everyone registered with the Rural Payments Agency with at least 3 hectares of eligible land
- 11:47 — around 25% allocated
- 13:06 — 50% allocated
- 14:34 — 75% allocated
- 15:48 — Window 2 closed
How much money it was
Window 2 had £233 million. That is £180 million set aside for it from the start, the extra £50 million the Prime Minister announced as part of the support for farmers facing drought and rising costs, and £3 million that Window 1 did not allocate. That last figure answers a question we left open last week: very little of Window 1's money was left to roll forward.
If you submitted an application
The Rural Payments Agency works through them in the order they were submitted, and some need extra checks that take longer. Defra says it will give a date for offers "in due course". Two things from its closing post are worth knowing now:
- An agreement is offered to an eligible application only if enough budget remains when it reaches the front of the queue. A submitted application is not yet an agreement.
- If you get an offer, you have 30 calendar days to accept it, or it is withdrawn.
If any of the land is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, the RPA cannot offer you an agreement until Natural England has given consent. The SSSI notice goes in first, and section 10.1 of the scheme rules explains how.
If you started one but did not submit it
It will not be accepted. Defra's reason is that it closed the window when it already had enough applications to use the whole budget. There are two exceptions, and both only apply if you contacted the RPA before 15:48:
- "Assisted digital" farmers, where the RPA is completing the application on the farmer's behalf
- "Technical issue" farmers, who were stopped from applying by a fault in the application service
The RPA will write to everyone with an unsubmitted Window 2 application to say whether it is withdrawn or can carry on.
If you did not apply
Defra says eligible farmers and land managers will have another chance at SFI in 2027, and that it will publish the details of next year's offer in due course. No date or budget has been given yet. The actions and their rates are still on our SFI26 page, with GOV.UK's own payment rates.
Defra's closing post also points to Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier, which is still open: 10-year agreements for those invited by Natural England, and a new expression of interest route for woodland improvement, agroforestry, species-rich grassland and scheduled monuments. What else is open, and what has shut, is on our farming grants page.
The pattern
Capital Grants 2026 took five weeks to run out. SFI26 Window 1 closed on its date. Window 2, open to every eligible farm at once, went in an afternoon, with applications taken in the order they arrived. When the next offer is announced, we will email the day it opens.
This is a summary of what Defra has published, not advice. The scheme rules are the authority: SFI26 scheme information on GOV.UK, and the Defra Farming blog post on the close.