CLA makes late payment warning as 84,500 farmers claim BPS

84,500 farmers made their Basic Payment Scheme application by the deadline - there is still time to apply but there will be a penalty.

84,500 farmers submitted their Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) 2015 claim ahead of Monday’s midnight deadline - but that figure is set to rise as claims handed in at RPA drop-in centres late on Monday continue to be counted, the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) said today.

Any farmer who has yet to make their claim can still do so up to midnight on 10 July but is urged to do so as soon as possible because there is a one per cent penalty for every working day a claim is late.

CLA President Henry Robinson said: “Despite the uncertainties created by the failures of the online system and the late changes to the application process, the submission data shows that industry has responded well. We are grateful to the staff of the RPA who we know have worked extremely hard to manage this process, and to all the CLA advisers and industry professionals that have played their part. By meeting the deadline, around 84,000 claimants have given themselves the best chance of receiving their payment in full and on time.

“We are encouraging any business that missed the deadline but still wish to claim to act now – for every day late beyond 15 June that a claim is submitted, the claimant will see a 1% penalty reduction of their payment, and after 10 July they will have missed out completely.

“This deadline is just a staging post in a long running process and the key now is to ensure payments are made to businesses in full and on time. We continue to meet regularly with Defra and the RPA. We also will start now discussing where lessons can be learnt from this year to make the process better next year.”