Following the closure of the Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) in Wales on 31 March 2018, the first year of the transitional phase to oversee the closure has progressed well, with LCF funds held in Wales reducing from £1.3m at 30 June 2018, to £800k at 31 March 2019.
Environmental Bodies (EBs) have just 11 weeks to register projects in Wales to spend their outstanding LCF funds. All projects must be registered by 30 September 2019. Any funds not allocated to registered projects at 1 October 2019 will be required to be transferred to an EB operating in England or Northern Ireland. Any LCF monies still held at 1 April 2020 will be subject to HMRC clawback.
Responsibility for the collection and administration of Landfill Tax in Wales was transferred to the Welsh Government from 1 April 2018 with the LCF also ceasing to operate in Wales from this date. There is a two-year transitional period to enable LCF projects to be completed and for all remaining LCF funds in Wales to be spent. The transitional period runs from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2020. EBs can continue to register projects in Wales with us up until 30 September 2019 and all projects must be completed, and all LCF funds spent by 31 March 2020. If EBs based in Wales wish their enrolment in the LCF to continue they must notify ENTRUST by 30 September 2019. An EB would only wish to continue their enrolment if they intend to continue operating with projects in England or Northern Ireland.
Those wishing to know more about the closure of the LCF in Wales should visit the Wales page on our website which is regularly updated with information, and contains a number of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the LCF in Wales, within the FAQ Devolution section. We will email EBs based in Wales whenever there is updated information, or advice and guidance about the closure of the LCF in Wales. All EBs operating in Wales should read our devolution guidance on the record-keeping, reporting and other obligations of EBs throughout the transitional period.
If you are an EB based in Wales and you have completed your LCF activity and you have no outstanding LCF monies, you should consider requesting voluntary revocation from the scheme.
If you have any questions about the closure of the LCF in Wales please contact our Helpline on 01926 488 300 or by emailing helpline@entrust.org.uk