The RPA and Defra must remain fully focused on making BPS payments in December, the NFU said today.
Despite numerous meetings with senior RPA and Defra officials in the past few weeks, NFU Vice President Guy Smith continues to have major concerns.
The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has said that pre-populated BP5 claim forms will start to be sent out next week. The forms will start to be sent by email to everyone who has registered on the Rural Payments online system.
“All of these delays following the IT melt-down means we are in danger of being a good two months behind the timetable on applications and that will undoubtedly put pressure on the ability of the RPA to make payments promptly on the December 1 start date,” said Mr Smith. “Our fundamental point is that farmers are not in any way to blame for the current problems and therefore it is wholly unacceptable that, as a result of these issues, farmers could be penalised with late payments.
“We welcome further clarity from the RPA today that new BP5 forms will start to go out to farmers from next week and that guidance on how to apply will go out via email initially with paper copies to follow in the post – a key demand of the NFU. But we remain concerned that this process needs to be completed ASAP to allow the industry as much time as possible to complete claim forms that are going to take longer to complete this year due to the demands of greening.
“I understand the RPA will this week start considering so-called ‘straight forward cases’ and email thousands of farmers about their claims. But they must realise that many of those email addresses might not be regularly or routinely used by the farmers. The RPA must monitor these electronic communications to see if they are being opened by the appropriate person. If the emails are not getting through then there must be a quick postal back-up.
“Farmers who have to fulfil greening requirements will be emailed pre-populated forms and information starting next Monday. It is not clear how long the RPA will need to email everyone in this category but the NFU will be complaining very loudly if we find members have not received forms by April 21.
“We are also demanding that well-resourced, user friendly advice is given by the RPA to ensure farmers can submit applications in good time and in good order. In particular we want to see well-staffed, well-located, advice centres open at times convenient to farmer hours. On top of this, Defra must accept that the RPA will need extra resource in the summer to process and check applications in enough time to hit the early December payment window.
“We are also very concerned that the system has become a confusing combination of paper and e-mail. We see no good reason why pre-populated forms cannot be posted out to applicants just as the maps and the guidance booklet will be. By relying on e-mail to send out pre-populated BPS forms the RPA risk confusing applicants as to where exactly their forms are coming from.
“I would also add that by relying on email the RPA are reviving our previous concerns about broadband capacity in farm offices as well as how e-enabled some farm businesses are..
“The NFU will continue to monitor the situation and will keep pressing both the RPA and Defra until our questions and concerns have been addressed.”
CLA President Henry Robinson said: “Claimants will be reassured to hear that they will be receiving their pre-populated BP5 forms by email from next week. It will be accompanied by good guidance from the RPA on how to apply.
“We understand the decision made by the RPA to revert to paper application forms. Now that this decision has been made it is important that the revised application system runs smoothly and the RPA’s focus must now be on preventing delays in payment to claimants.
“We continue to work closely with the RPA and we are focused on providing information and advice to our members. A number of urgent questions still need comprehensive answers. For example we are pressing Defra for clarity on the role of grass margins and buffer strips in relation to greening – it is critical that claimants have clarity on this before filling out greening information on the BP5 form.”
