Farmers are being advised to check the information held on the Rural Payments Agency’s online system closely, so any errors can be cleared up before starting a 2016 application.
A number of claimants have discovered that their 2015 payment has been lower than expected and with most claim statements still to arrive it has been difficult to identify why this might be the case.
However, the opening of the online payments system may have shed some light on the situation.
Consultants checking the land parcel records on the new online system have identified what looks to be several instances of where the eligible area of a field has been reduced to 0.00 and the claim scaled back accordingly.
Paul Dennison, farming consultant in Strutt & Parker’s Northallerton office said: “I have now seen three claims where this seems to be the case.
“One was a client who received a claim statement which showed an over-declaration of 45ha so the client has been penalised for double the over-claimed amount which equates to more than £15,000.
“However, when I checked the online system one field on the claim, which historically had an eligible area of 43ha, now has an eligible area of 0.00ha, which is suspiciously similar to what the RPA has said is the over-claimed area.
“It does appear that in some instances the system may have got things wrong so now is the time for people to double-check their figures and seek help if they need further guidance on how to contact the RPA to get land reinstated.”
