Christmas has come early

Christmas has come early for tens of thousands of farmers as the Rural Payments Agency has surpassed the expectations of many industry commentators by starting to make Basic Payment Scheme payments on time.

I was relieved and surprised to receive notification from the RPA at the end of November that a number of clients were to receive their Basic Payment Scheme payments on December 1.  This was the first day of the payment window and the RPA must be congratulated on getting at least some of them out so promptly.

The RPA has confirmed that more than 33,000 farmers in England were paid their 2015 BPS claim on December 1 and they have committed to paying at least 44,000 claimants (50 per cent of the total) by the end of December. This is in addition to having made £21 million of EU dairy support payments to almost 11,000 dairy farmers in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as I reported previously.

NFU vice-president Guy Smith said: “When the RPA starts talking about a percentage, we want to see value as well as volume going out. We do not want to see one million £10 cheques. We want to see a good cross-section of payment claims going out.

“A significant amount of money has gone out – and we have to congratulate the RPA for that. But the fact they have only paid just over one-third of applicants increases the anxiety among the have-nots.”

It is clear to me from those payments I am aware of that those which have been made are for small and relatively simple claims. So there is concern that some of the larger, more complex claims may remain unpaid for some time to come.  This worry has been raised with the RPA by industry leaders and as a result the RPA has written to all complex cases, which they do not expect to pay by the end of January. 

The official payment window runs from December 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016, so some farmers could still be in for a long wait and I urge banks to help with the cash flow crisis that will be caused by these delays.

But, at this stage all we can hope is that the RPA continues to surprise us with good news and even the most complex of claims will be made early in the New Year.

James Stephen MRICS FAAV
Partner
Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor, Wells
T: 01749 683381
E: james.stephen@carterjonas.co.uk