The Parliamentary Ombudsperson, Ann Abraham, has upheld complaints from nine farmers about the Government’s handling of the single payment subsidy scheme after they missed out on payments to which they were entitled. The complaints, which date back to 2005-06, were made after the RPA failed to pay farmers their direct income support.

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Ombudsperson Abraham presented a report to Parliament on Wednesday which detailed the findings of her investigation into the farmers’ complaints. They had complained about RPA’s handling of their claims to the SPS on a number of counts, including that they provided poor quality and sometimes ambiguous guidance on how to make a claim; failed to return applicants’ telephone calls when this had been promised; misdirected applicants about the status of their cases; delayed letting applicants know that they would not be paid; and did not explain their decisions properly.

The RPA was also judged to have failed to consider the effects its errors and omissions had on the farmers when they came to complain. In one case, a farmer misunderstood the new form and only claimed a subsidy for the year 2005. She did not activate her claim and subsequently did not receive a payment. No one questioned her mistake, even though RPA knew this was a common error by farmers. Losing a payment of over £13,000 left the farmer unable to pay all her bills and reliant on her partner’s goodwill and only became aware of her mistake a year after submitting her claim, when she asked what had  happened to her payment.

Another farmer also misunderstood the new form and guidance and did not activate his claim. He was then led to believe by the RPA that he would be paid, which was not the case. He and his wife found the confusion and uncertainty of their circumstances particularly stressful. The farmer had to increase his overdraft, sell land and take on extra part time work in order to make up for the financial shortfall.

After upholding the complaints, the Ombudsperson said the farmers will each receive a written apology from the Permanent Secretary of Defra as well as £500 compensation for the inconvenience,  distress and frustration that they experienced. They will also receive individual payments to put right the financial impact of RPA’s failures. The RPA, which last month unveiled a new ‘customer charter’ to better serve farmers, was also asked to provide an action plan setting out the changes that have been made to prevent other farmers  experiencing the same problems in future.

Ann Abraham said, "Amid the confusion of a new system, these nine farmers made innocent  mistakes in their claims for financial support. This is the second time I have investigated problems suffered by farmers as a result of the poor administration of this scheme. In December 2009 I reported the results of my first investigation to Parliament because RPA had failed to accept my findings and to implement my recommendations to put things right for the farmers concerned.

"It took the intervention of the Public Administration Select Committee before RPA would take action to remedy the injustice I identified at that time. Although my new report tells a similar story of poor administration, the response from RPA and Defra has been a very different one this time, and I am pleased that my recommendations have been accepted in full."

There has been no word from the RPA on when it will make payments for the 2011 SPS, but it announced last week that eligibility statements would be available online from 1st December; Defra has set the agency the target of paying out 86 per cent of payments and 78 per cent of the total value by the end of the month.  

Although poor performance at the RPA has resulted in increased scrutiny and caused much ire in the past, Farming Minister Jim Paice, who sits on the RPA Oversight Board, last month informed parliament that the agency was performing better than in any previous scheme year, despite working to a reduced budget.