Calculating Woodland Improvement Grants
The WIG Calculator has been developed by Forestry Commission Wales (FCW) in association with representatives from Welsh Forestry Agents and Coed Cymru. The WIG Calculator is to be used to calculate costs for all Woodland Improvement Grants (WIG) applications to the Better Woodlands for Wales (BWW) grant scheme. Under the old Woodland Grant Scheme costs for WIG operations were negotiated with FCW on a scheme by scheme basis, making it difficult for applicants to predict how much grant they would get. The new cost calculator is different and will allow management planners to calculate costs during the management plan process with confidence that they will be approved by FCW. Advantages
The WIG cost calculator: - offers an easy to use, standardised costing method;
- provides costings that are transparent to everyone involved;
- is designed to be flexible enough to take into account most site and crop variations;
- reduces or eliminates the need to amend BWW operational plans;
- avoids lengthy negotiation; and
- will allow for operational costs to be reviewed and if necessary updated on a regular basis.
How to download the WIG Calculator
The WIG Calculator was last updated on 29 October 2007. - The new version of the spreadsheet should be used on all BWW plans reaching Management Plan (MP) status on or after 1st October 2007. The previous version can be used on plans which are already at "MP" status on this date. This means that there is no need to transfer costings you have already worked out to the new version, providing the plan is at "MP" stage (or later). If the transition between versions is likely to cause you problems on a particular plan, please contact your case Woodland Officer for advice.
The WIG Calculator Release Notes provide more information Coed Cymru WIG Calculator added 17 March 2008. - To run the calculator you will need to have MS Office Excel™ installed on your PC. The WIG calculator is in spreadsheet format designed to run on this software package only. Please read the notes on this page prior to using the costing calculator.
- Download the WIG Calculator using this link. (MS Office Excel™ spreadsheet) Download the new Coed Cymru Calculator using this link (MS Office Excel™ spreadsheet)
- Please right-click the link and select "save target as" to download the spreadsheet to your computer.
- See GOH 06 How to use the WIG Calculator* for further guidance.
*(Adobe Acrobat™ PDF - 4231k)
Getting started - using the WIG Calculator
When you have opened the WIG Calculator you will notice that drop-down boxes are provided to lead management planners through the data entry process. When completed, the agreed standard cost for that particular operation will be displayed. The calculator will provide a summary of each operation costed, this can be pasted into the management plan and will form the basis of the operational description with the Management Plan. The WIG calculator has a range of standard costs for different operations and specifications, embedded within it. Management planners will be required to agree some basic site and crop details with their local woodland officer prior to operations being costed. The agreed data will then form the basis of the costings. The woodland officer will check and approve the basic information, rather than the individual operational cost. The grant aid available is defined by the work specification agreed at an early stage by the management planner with the woodland officer and is therefore not negotiable. If the work specification changes and therefore associated costs (once contracts have been drawn up) then any alterations required will have to be made through the formal amendment procedure explained below. Uses of the WIG Calculator
Management planners, and owners can use the WIG calculator to estimate the financial implications of various options, for example the harvesting calculator allows management planners to compare different working methods on the same site. For example: forwarder against skidder extraction. Similarly the vegetation control sheet allows the cost of "chemical 1" being applied through a knapsack sprayer to be compared against the cost of motorised application of "chemical 2". Safeguards have, however, been built into the calculator to ensure it cannot be used to pick work operations that attract maximum grant aid. Requesting costing amendments
If amendments are required to agreed work operations after approval of the management plan, a formal amendment will be required. Operations will be re-costed using the latest version of the WIG Calculator published on the FCW web site. Costing Reviews
The WIG Calculator has been designed to allow periodic reviews of the costs to ensure data is kept up to date. Reviews are anticipated to be on an annual basis and will involve FCW staff, management planners and agents. Updates will be posted on the FCW website as soon as they are available.
If you regularly use the WIG Calculator please check the website to ensure are using the latest version. If you have any feedback regarding costs that are identified that you feel may be incorrect, or general comments that you wish to make that you feel would be helpful then please contact us using the following e-mail address: wig.costings@forestry.gsi.gov.uk - The new version of the spreadsheet should be used on all BWW plans reaching Management Plan (MP) status on or after 1st October 2007.
- The previous version can be used on plans which are already at "MP" status on this date. This means that there is no need to transfer costings you have already worked out to the new version, providing the plan is at "MP" stage (or later).
- If the transition between versions is likely to cause you problems on a particular plan, please contact your case Woodland Officer for advice.
- The WIG Calculator Release Note has more information
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