Wales has formally removed the £100 cap on fees charged for certain agricultural appeals. The Agricultural Subsidies and Grants Schemes (Appeals) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 (WSI 2025/1271) were made on 3 December 2025 and come into force on 1 January 2026, amending the 2006 appeals framework. The instrument states it was laid in draft and approved by Senedd Cymru under section 50(6) of the Agriculture (Wales) Act 2023.
The amendment targets ‘pre‑2023 Act schemes’ and gives Welsh Ministers discretion to set a fee where appeals arise from EU‑era programmes. The term is defined by cross‑reference to sections 16(2), 17(2) and 19(2) of the 2023 Act, which cover the Basic Payment Scheme, legislation on financing, management and monitoring of the Common Agricultural Policy, and rural development support. In practice, this captures appeals linked to BPS and rural development agreements entered under retained EU law.
Technically, regulation 3 of the 2006 Appeals Regulations is amended so that, for those legacy schemes, Welsh Ministers may charge “such fee as [they] may determine”. This removes the previous ceiling of £100 that applied to appeals relating to BPS, CAP financing and monitoring, or rural development.
Welsh Government has set out the charges that will apply from 1 January 2026: £220 for a Stage 2 written hearing and £290 for a Stage 2 oral hearing. The two‑stage route remains unchanged and Stage 1 carries no fee. Where an appeal is accepted in full, the Stage 2 fee will be refunded; cases concerning TB compensation are not subject to the increase.
Scheme booklets currently in force still show Stage 2 fees of £50 (written) and £100 (oral). The 2026 rates therefore represent a step change for appellants compared with the present position.
Officials cite cost recovery for the Independent Appeal Panel: around £875 per day for three members, typically covering three oral or four written appeals. No Welsh Government administrative overheads are included.
The Explanatory Note confirms that a Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared and published on gov.wales to set out the likely costs and benefits of compliance. This aligns with the Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on impact assessments.
Who is affected? From 1 January 2026, any farmer or land manager pursuing a Stage 2 appeal will face the new fee regardless of scheme, while pre‑2023 Act cases now rest on an explicit statutory power to set charges without a £100 cap. Appellants should confirm whether their dispute sits under retained EU‑based schemes or newer domestic instruments before filing.
The change arrives alongside a broader update to the legal framework for post‑2023 support. The Senedd scheduled an approval motion on 2 December 2025 for the Agriculture Support Schemes (Eligibility, Enforcement and Appeals) (Wales) Regulations 2025, which provide the architecture for the next‑generation schemes.
Practical takeaway for claimants: budget for the higher Stage 2 fee from 1 January 2026; review the relevant scheme rules; and retain all correspondence and evidence supporting the grounds of appeal. The refund mechanism on full success remains an important protection, but partial success does not trigger automatic repayment.