Deer Fencing and High Seat Grants: What Higher Tier Capital Grants Pay For

Most deer-related grants come wrapped inside something bigger: a woodland creation scheme, a ten-year agreement, a plan you have to write first. Higher Tier Capital Grants ↗ are different. They're standalone capital grants, open for applications all year from 5 January 2026 until the money is allocated, and you don't need a full Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier agreement to use them.

What the deer items pay

There are eight deer-specific items in the 2026 offer. Deer fencing (FG9) pays £10.27 per metre and temporary deer fencing (FG10) £8.09 per metre. A deer exclosure plot (FG11), a small fenced square used to monitor how woodland regenerates without browsing, pays £212.56. Deer gates pay £475.44 for a pedestrian gate (FG16) and £749.63 for a vehicle gate (FG17). A deer high seat (FY1) pays £265, with a further £180 (FY8) if it's free-standing. Training to control and manage deer (SM1) pays up to 100% of actual course costs.

The catch: sign-off comes before the application

Every one of the deer items needs support from the Forestry Commission (for woodland and agroforestry) or Natural England (for wood pasture) before you apply, so the first step is a conversation with your local Forestry Commission area office, not the form. Some items go further. A high seat ↗ needs an approved species management plan that identifies deer as a threat to the woodland and sets out control methods that need the seat, which is exactly what PA7 funds. Deer management training can only be used alongside CWS1 deer control ↗, with Forestry Commission approval.

Fence specification has to match the deer

FG9 isn't one fence spec. The required height and mesh ↗ depend on the species: a minimum of 1.5 to 1.8 metres high, with mesh as small as 75mm by 75mm where muntjac are present and as large as 200mm by 300mm for red and sika. Fencing to the wrong spec either wastes money or doesn't stop the deer that are actually there, which is the same problem covered in our piece on what deer fencing actually solves.

What it can and can't be combined with

Higher Tier Capital Grants can sit alongside the Sustainable Farming Incentive and existing Countryside Stewardship agreements, as long as the same work isn't funded twice. They can't be combined with the England Woodland Creation Offer, Farming in Protected Landscapes, or the Woodland Carbon Fund. For new planting, EWCO is usually the route instead, and it pays the same £10.27 per metre for deer fencing.

How to apply

Applications go to the Rural Payments Agency by email or post on the Higher Tier Capital Grants application form, and agreements run for three years. When you claim, you'll need photographs of the finished work, receipted invoices or bank statements, and your Forestry Commission management plan approval letter. Applications over £50,000 also need a letter from an accountant confirming the business can fund the work before it's paid back.

Where a survey fits

Forestry Commission support, the fence spec, and the species management plan behind a high seat all come back to the same question: which deer are on the land, roughly how many, and what damage they're doing. A Deer Number Survey & Impact Assessment answers exactly that. It's free, and it's the same evidence whichever item you end up applying for.