The majority of farmers who are eligible for BPS 2015 have now been paid, the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has announced. This amounts to just under £425 million reaching the bank accounts of 44,400 farmers out of 87,095 claimants, representing almost 51% of all claimants.


Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss said:

• I can confirm the RPA has met its commitment to pay the majority of eligible claims in December and remains on track to pay the vast majority of claims by the end of January.

• We understand the importance of these payments to our hard-working farmers and the RPA will continue to work flat out to ensure the agency meets its commitment to pay the remaining claims as quickly as possible.

More complex claims will take longer to process and are therefore likely to take longer to pay, as they did under the Single Payment Scheme.


The RPA will provide an update to those claimants who are unlikely to be paid by the end of January and an estimate as to when they will be paid to help them manage their cash flow.


In addition the Forestry Commission (FC) has also paid out over a third of capital payments, totalling £8million to woodland owners to protect, improve and expand woodlands in England. FC has also paid out 32% of valid annual claims worth just under £3million, and work is ongoing to pay outstanding valid annual claims as soon as possible.