Single payment scheme - position of ex-gratia payments

Defra has issued advice to farmers who may wish to claim the new Single Payment next year but who are uncertain how to treat ex gratia payments when considering calculation of the reference amount.

Ex gratia payments are not scheme payments that could be considered in the calculation of the reference amount. Farmers who consider that they are disadvantaged as a result can apply for these cases to be dealt with under the "hardship" rules for the new scheme.

These "hardship" provisions are available to farmers who can prove that a particular scheme should be excluded from the reference amount calculation for one or more reference years because payments under that scheme were reduced because of force majeure or exceptional circumstances.

This rule can be extended to farmers who were not eligible for the relevant scheme payments but who were paid on an ex gratia basis.

Defra has extended the deadline by which claimants wishing to take advantage of this provision (which allows for affected years to be removed from the calculation) have to apply to RPA, to 28 February 2005. This is in order to give farmers time to give a more considered response.

The RPA will be writing individually in the next few days to all those who received an ex gratia payment in the reference period

(2000-2002) to advise them on what action needs to be taken.