Farm leaders demand clear timetable on BPS payments

Farm leaders are demanding a clear timetable over when Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments will be delivered, with many thousands still waiting to be paid.

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) said on Wednesday (27 January) that 61,172 out of 88,000 eligible farmers in England had now received their BPS payments.

The figures appeared to confirm fears by the NFU that the agency would fail to meet its own deadline of paying the “vast majority” of claimants by the end of January.

According to the NFU, the agency’s target for the “vast majority” was between 82% and 85% of eligible farmers.

With two banking days to go before the end of January, the RPA had paid just over 70% of claimants and was therefore likely to miss this target.

See also: Thousands of farmers face wait until April for BPS money

But only 60% of the total BPS fund value has been paid out – equivalent to £845m of an estimated £1.43bn.

The RPA said it was doing “everything it can to pay the remaining claims as quickly as possible”.

Chief executive Mark Grimshaw said: “We understand the importance of BPS payments for farmers and the RPA is working seven days a week to meet our commitments.

“Payments are being made regularly, typically arriving in banks midweek, as claims are checked and completed.”

Of the remaining 27,000 people still to be paid, 13,000 have been sent letters like the one below telling them the agency will “start to pay claims like yours from February”.

An RPA source told Farmers Weekly as many as 6,000 farmers or more will have to wait until at least April to be paid, or possibly later, in one of the toughest farming years in living memory.

NFU vice-president Guy Smith said Defra and its agencies owed it to farmers to issue a clear timetable for the remainder of outstanding BPS payments.

“Defra and its agencies have a responsibility to not make people anxious. The anxiety in the ‘have nots’ is getting worse,” he added.

“I am receiving emails at 3.30am written by members who have not been paid and are asking whether they should go and visit the bank.”

Mr Smith described the situation as “shambolic” and said he was concerned the delay in payments “might compromise the smooth running of BPS 2016”.

NFU Scotland president Allan Bowie said the majority of Scotland’s 17,500 BPS claimants were “still completely in the dark over when they will receive their payment”.

The Scottish government said on 20 January that 4,500 claimants had been paid, but “many more payment runs were due before the end of January”.