DEFRA must get a grip on this payments shambles

Defra secretary Liz Truss must deal with the shambles that is the Rural Payments Agency and make it fit for purpose.

As the deadline for submission of 2016 Basic Payment Scheme applications has passed it has become clear that although the new online application system has been reasonably effective where all the field information is correct, there are significant problems where errors have occurred over last year’s claim. 

Consequently some farmers have still to receive any payments from last year and many of those who have received payments have been given the wrong sum.

Most of the problems seem to stem back to the fact that for one reason or another land parcels do not seem to have been properly connected to the farmers who claimed against them in 2015.  This may be because the Rural Payments Agency has not yet processed the many land changes which were notified to them almost a year ago, or because of human error or technical glitch.

Whatever the reason, the result is that some farmers have had to submit this year’s claim based on information submitted last year but not updated on the RPA’s online mapping system, which is going to compound the problem in processing this year’s claims. 

Also many farmers are having to submit their claim partly online and partly on paper where the land is not shown properly on the digital plans.  I can only imagine the chaos this will cause trying to re-unite these two parts of the same claim.

This leaves many farmers feeling vulnerable to problems that may arise as a result of errors that should have been addressed last year but which may now have a hangover effect on this year’s claim as well. 

I hope that if errors from last year affect this year’s claim through no fault of the applicant, the RPA will take a pragmatic view and just get on and sort out the problems without penalising the farmer. Sadly there is no guarantee this will happen. 

In the past it was often “heads we win” and “tails you lose” as far as such problems are concerned.

It is also clear that a lot of errors have occurred in relation to the number of BPS entitlements held by farmers. 

To make a successful claim a farmer needs to match one entitlement with one hectare of eligible land.  However, my experience is that following last year’s claim a significant minority of farmers have found that the number of entitlements they have been paid on is less than the number of hectares they declared in 2015 and in turn the number of entitlements carried forward into 2016 has been similarly reduced.

This is a double whammy as these farmers have not only had their 2015 claim reduced but they are in danger of being paid less going forward in 2016 and beyond unless the original problem can be rectified.

These are just a few of the many examples of problems and glitches which have ocurred in the new online system for which one can obtain no logical explanation from the RPA.  They now have their work cut out to sort out the many problems that remain from 2015 before the 2016 payment window opens on December 1, which must seem worryingly close already for those in the RPA responsible for making the BPS system work.   

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