A combined application form, covering ewe premium and sheep headage, had been in existence for some time until this year when the application covers ewe premium only since headage payments are moving to an area based payments system. Applicants for sheep headage grants were required to complete schedule 2 of the application form giving the number of mountain breed ewes being applied on and the number of other hogget ewes being applied on.
All flock owners in the disadvantaged areas are not automatically eligible for headage. While hogget ewes on all disadvantaged lands qualify for headage, mountain breeding ewes only qualify if they are grazed on mountain grazings. The number of cases which were unpaid because the flock owners concerned claimed to have mountain breeding ewes but did not have mountain grazings in each of the last five years is as follows: