NFU stands firm on 80 per cent minimum after rooker sets Rpa targets

Lord Rooker has set the Rural Payments Agency a target of paying 75 per cent by value of valid Single Payment Scheme (SPS) claims by March 31 2008. But the NFU has reiterated its calls for a minimum of 80 per cent part payments to be made in December 2007.

The Food and Farming Minister set new targets for the RPA on Tuesday and also called for new measures to improve data quality.

However NFU chief legal adviser Julie Robinson said: "We must remember this target has been set for the RPA, it's not an announcement to claimants.

"The NFU is standing by its call for the government to make - as a minimum - part payments of 80 per cent of claim value in December this year. That is not inconsistent with the minimum target set by Lord Rooker.

"Here we are, over three years on from the government's infamous '96 per cent by the end of March' target for the first year of the scheme. While not minimising the scale of the recovery operation needed to put things right, surely the RPA can do better than 75 per cent by the end of March for 2007 claims."