RPA scotches call for SPS deadline move

The deadline for Single Payment Scheme applications will not be extended – despite an appeal on behalf of farmers plagued by problems.

The Rural Payments Agency said it was unable to extend the 17 May deadline after the British Institute of Agricultural Consultants (BIAC) said applications were being hampered because maps sent to farmers contained errors.

Subsidy applications were accepted and payments made in accordance with dates set out by EU Commission regulations, said an agency spokeswoman. She added: “These are the same for all member states.”

BIAC chief executive Anthony Hyde made the plea for a deadline extension in an open letter to the agency. Delays in payments for 2009 and earlier were already causing farmers immense stress and financial hardship, he wrote.

“We need action now if we are to prevent another 12 months of chaos,” said Mr Hyde. “If that action means extending deadlines this May and June then that action must be taken.”

By the agency’s own admission, some 33,000 forms contain omissions. Problems were aggravated by the agency’s failure to deliver accurate maps for 2010 applications, said Mr Hyde.

BIAC had warned that the agency’s mapping programme would be fraught with difficulties should it not deliver, he added. “We are frustrated that our advice has not been acted upon.”

Farmers were being expected to submit flawless applications from inaccurate and contradictory data. “They are effectively criminalised because they are part of an unequal relationship in which they have no natural justice.”

The agency said it had issued guidance in the SPS 2010 handbook to assist farmers. Further help included writing to every affected farmer and a checklist on the agency website, said the spokeswoman.

“We wrote to all 33,000 farmers some weeks back to advise them to check their forms carefully and also printed an arrow on the form to point out precisely where the gap was to ensure they noticed and completed the information.”

So long as 2010 SPS application forms were submitted by midnight on 17 May, farmers could notify the agency, in writing, of any amendments to land parcels or add new land parcels up to midnight on 1 June without penalty.

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