NFU Cymru is inviting its members in Glamorgan to a county meeting to discuss the new proposals for the Welsh Government Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) set out within a consultation launched at the end of March.
Starting at 7.30pm, on Wednesday, 3 June 2015, the meeting will be held at Grove Golf Club, Cornelly.
Abi Reader, Glamorgan NFU Cymru County Chairman, said, “The BPS will affect every farmer in Wales and this meeting is an opportunity to discuss your concerns and get some clarity on the Welsh Governments proposals. During the meeting we will go through the consultation paper with members, talking through the discussions that have taken place since the legal challenge and seek members’ views on the options that are now being consulted upon.
“We know that the future design of the Basic Payment Scheme is a contentious issue and our membership will have a range of views on the best way forward. This is completely understandable given that whatever proposal is eventually decided upon by Welsh Government can make a significant impact on the level of CAP support an individual farming business will receive in future. Therefore, I would urge our members to come along to our county meeting to find out more about the Welsh Government proposals and help shape NFU Cymru’s response to this consultation.”
The NFU has been actively contacting its members to find out how they are progressing with their new Basic Payment Scheme applications in recent weeks, given an extension to the deadline and the sheer amount of confusion and uncertainty since the RPA moved away from an online-only system.
The survey revealed that (of those that are self-completing their BPS application):
·Nearly half of respondents (42.4%) said they were unaware that the RPA has support centres available;
·Around a fifth said they had not received an email or paper forms from the RPA since April 12;
·Nearly one fifth (18.2%) said information on their BP5 forms were incorrect – but 42% had yet to check – most looking to complete the forms in May;
·More than a quarter (26.7%) said they had not received copies of their maps since September 2014.
(Please note that the NFU started a follow up survey on May 1 with its members on the same issues, and initial results suggest that there have been some improvements).
NFU Vice President Guy Smith said: “Given the complexities, challenges and last minute changes involved in this year’s BPS applications it is really important the NFU keeps its ear to the ground so it can hear from its members as to how things are progressing. This in turn will help us in our lobbying to avoid excessively delayed payments or penalties. Our intention is to regularly publish the results of our ongoing survey so we can better inform our constant talks with the RPA and express the anger and frustration our members are going through when what they really want to be doing is getting down to the business of farming.
“We do appreciate this is extra form filling, but would strongly encourage members who have yet to take part in our survey to spend just a few minutes completing it. It is vital that we get their feedback, as the next few weeks are absolutely critical.
“Meanwhile we continue to encourage members to endeavour as best they can to submit forms in good order and in good time and we remind our members of the need for extra care and attention to detail in this all important initial year of BPS.”
