8000 farmers could be put under serious financial pressure over delays to their single farm payments.

George Paton, of consultancy firm Webb Paton, said a Rural Payments Agency (RPA) source informed him 8,000 claimants would not receive their cheques before the end of the year because of the quango's inability to sort out entitlement corrections.

In the South West, some farmers have said they may be forced to take out loans to cover their food bills, resulting in crippling interest repayments long after the subsidy arrives.

The RPA says it is "working towards its target" of paying 85 per cent of those entitled to the money by December 31. But Ian Johnson, spokesman for the National Farmers Union South West, described the payment system as "a disastrous state of affairs".

He said: "I have spoken with colleagues who agree with the 8,000 figure suggested by the consultant.

"For those who are planning their cash flow on when they should have received those payments, they may find they are having to borrow money just to keep going.

"I know that several farmers across the region are dependent on the payments, so any delays are likely to have huge consequences."

The subsidies, which come from EU money handed out to farmers, have a troubled history owing to delays in processing pay outs and concerns some were over or underpaid.

Consultant Mr Paton said: "Some of these farmers have suffered delays to their payments since 2006.

"Very few of these problems have been caused by the farmers – most are down to RPA mistakes.

"The RPA has repeatedly told us they are doing a software upgrade, but that's starting to wear a bit thin."

Mr Johnson said the majority of farmers' payments go through without problems, but echoed the consultant's comments about the need to change the current RPA system.

He said: "Not to put too fine a point on it, we're dealing with a hopelessly complex system. No matter how valiantly those poor RDA staff try, we find we are taking one step forward and two steps back.

"This wasn't how it was supposed to be, and things need to change for the better very soon."

RPA spokesman Timma Marett said there were a number of reasons why payments may not be possible in December, with the payment window running up until the end of next June. She said: "The RPA is working hard towards meeting its targets of paying 85 per cent of farmers by December 31.

• €241.14 for non-SDA (Severely Disadvantaged Areas)
• €194.78 for upland SDA, other than moorland
• €34.15 for upland SDA moorland

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If you do not have a PIN, or have mislaid the one we issued to you, a new one can be requested (which will deactivate any PIN you may already have). You should go to www.rpa.gov.uk/spsonline, alternatively you can contact our Customer Service Centre on 0845 603 7777. Please note that a PIN will be sent to the legally empowered representative (usually the owner or partner of the business), not the agent who is empowered via an SP9 form to receive all SPS mail.