91 per cent of farmers in England have now received 2016 BPS payments

Rural Payments Agency (RPA) chief executive Mark Grimshaw
Rural Payments Agency (RPA) chief executive Mark Grimshaw

Over 78,000 (91%) of farmers in England received their 2016 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) money by the end of December.

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has previously told farmers they were on track to pay 90% of eligible claims by the end of December.

Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom said: “I know how important these payments are to farmers and I am pleased that the RPA has surpassed its target of making 90% of payments by the end of December. This is good progress but both Mark Grimshaw and I are clear that the Agency will remain fully focussed on processing claims as quickly as possible until everyone is paid.”

RPA Chief Executive Mark Grimshaw said: “We understand how important BPS payments are to farmers and that’s why we’ve worked hard to get money into bank accounts in the first month of the payment window, injecting just over £1.4 billion into the farming and wider rural economy.

“This month we will communicate directly with those farmers who will be paid from January onwards to help them plan.”

'Good news'

NFU Vice President Guy Smith welcomed the RPA’s progress. He said: “This is good news, we congratulate the RPA for putting the painful procrastination that was BPS 2015/16 behind them and improving performance.

“BPS payments don't just help the cash flows for farm businesses but also the wider rural economy as farmers use the money to pay for goods and services.

“However we are hearing from plenty of members still not paid and from others who don't think they have been paid the right amount. So amidst our congratulations we remind the RPA there is much still to do.”

“We welcome the RPA re-introducing whole case workers for those not paid at this point, but we also want to see all outstanding queries addressed as soon as possible to allow farmers to complete their forthcoming 2017 applications with greater confidence than in previous years.

“To help the situation, the RPA needs to improve on its communication and support for those that still have issues, many are still in the dark as a result of poor RPA customer service to this point.”

In November, a committee of MPs asked whether successive government ministers were right to declare their confidence in Mr Grimshaw's leadership at the end of a year of missed payments targets and inaccurate settlements.

Mark Grimshaw answered questions about his agency’s performance at an Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee hearing, and vowed that the last 1,000 or so of unsettled 2015 Basic Payment Scheme claims would be “closed” by early January at the latest.