The Rural Payments Agency’s performance has improved vastly compared to last year, according to a survey of the NFU’s membership, however, farmers with trickier payment types are still being underserved, according to the union.

The NFU asked 300 members from across the country and representing all farm sectors when their Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments were received and what impact any delays had on them and their business.
 
The results so far show:

• 90% of respondents have been paid indicating a much improved performance by the RPA compared to the previous year
• Of 2016 claimants, 10% have still not been paid, the impact being cash flow pressure, having to borrow more money,  some having problems paying bills, selling stock or crops earlier than planned
•  5% of those paid their 2016 claim noted a shortfall in what they expected to be paid
• 11% still had outstanding payment or claims issues from the 2015 application year.

 
RPA’s last announcement on BPS, made two weeks ago on 4th January, suggested 91% of claimants (78,000 farmers and landowners) had received their BPS money by the end of December. On Wednesday, an RPA spokesperson told Farming Online that 99.5% of farmers had received their 2015 BPS payments, and highlighted the small sample size of the NFU’s survey (300 members, out of 87,000 farm payment claimants in the country), suggesting this could account for some of the discrepancies between the NFU’s figures and those coming from the payment agency itself.  

The RPA spokesperson said, “We understand how important BPS payments are to farmers and that’s why we’re working hard to get money into bank accounts as quickly as possible. We asked farmers to contact us with any concerns about their 2015 payments and will investigate any new queries which customers raise.”

Commenting on the findings, which had been promised by the NFU, vice president Guy Smith said, “Our survey concludes later this week, but… these early stage results show that despite a commendable effort by the RPA to get BPS money out to cash strapped farmers, there is clear evidence that the RPA is still stretched.  As we move into 2017 it seems the pace of payment has significantly dropped away to a dribble leaving those in the unpaid 10% worried about cash flow and feeling clueless about when they will see their BPS. We have been calling for some time now for bridging payments for those not paid by the end of January.
 
“In light of these survey results we repeat these calls. Furthermore, the level of clear up work left over from 2015 is unacceptably large – in effect the RPA have more than 8000 customers who for some reason still haven't concluded their 2015 application 18 months after submission. That is far too many for comfort.
 
“With the 2017 claim window fast approaching and expected to be open towards the end of February, I ask for the RPA to take on board what farmers are telling us here.”
 
The union’s BPS team will be answering farmers’ payment questions at LAMMA 2017 later this week.