Defra's latest SFI26 update, published on 15 October, is mostly about the queue. Window 1 is nearly through it, Window 2 has a long way to go, and ministers have widened one of the Window 2 exception groups. The cut-off for that exception has already passed. Every figure below is from the Defra post.
Where the offers stand
- Window 1: around 6,700 applications, roughly 6,600 agreement offers issued, and 95% of those offers have started.
- Window 2: around 12,200 applications, around 2,500 agreement offers issued so far, and roughly 36% of those offers are live.
The Rural Payments Agency usually works through applications in the order they were submitted. Some need extra checks and take longer. The post gives no date for the rest of the Window 2 offers.
The exception group, widened
When Window 2 closed, Defra said two small groups who had contacted the RPA before the close could carry on with their applications: "assisted digital" farmers, whose application the RPA completes for them, and "technical issue" farmers, who had started an application but were stopped from submitting it by a fault in the service.
Because Window 2 was open for so short a time, ministers have extended the technical issue group to include:
- a small number of further farmers who started but did not submit an application, and who reported a valid technical issue by 11:59pm on 29 September 2026;
- farmers who did submit an application before the window closed on 22 September, where that application was affected by a valid technical issue they reported by the same deadline. They will be allowed to amend it to include what the system should have let them apply for under the scheme rules.
Issues reported after 11:59pm on 29 September do not qualify. Defra says this is a response to Window 2 only and does not set a precedent for future exception groups.
When the system was right to say no
Some farmers and agents have reported that a fault stopped them applying for actions they expected to be available on 22 September. Defra says that in many of these cases the system was correctly stopping combinations of actions that are not eligible together. Where the RPA finds that is what happened, the application will not count as a technical issue exception. Nor will a report without enough evidence for the RPA to confirm a valid technical issue.
The RPA is still assessing these reports and says this may take a few more weeks. Once it has, it will write to farmers and agents to confirm whether they are in an exception group or not.
SFI in 2027
One line in the post reaches beyond this year. Defra says it is "exploring alternatives to a first come, first served application process for SFI in 2027". There are no details yet. Both 2026 windows were first come, first served, and Window 2 opened and closed on the same day.
Still open: Higher Tier
The post ends by pointing to Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier, where you can submit an expression of interest for woodland improvement and agroforestry, or for a new single-focus agreement for species-rich grassland or scheduled monument management. The CSHT guidance itself was updated on 13 October: the applicant's guide has a new sub-heading on using your own labour to carry out capital works, and the print version of the actions now lists the SFI26 actions you can do on the same area as each CSHT action.
What else is open is on our farming grants page.
This is a summary of what Defra has published, not advice. The source is Defra's blog post Progressing SFI26 applications from Windows 1 and 2 (15 October 2026). Our Window 2 figures article has who applied and what the agreements are worth.