The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has announced it will be returning to digital applications for the 2016 BPS scheme, after IT issues and problems with the mapping portion of the application led the Agency into a U-turn in 2015, forcing a return to paper-based applications.

Defra and its arms-length bodies have been amongst the frontrunners in the government’s drive to turn record-keeping and admin ‘digital by default’. In response to the announcement on Wednesday morning, the NFU asked RPA to clarify the limitations of the online system and make sure that these are communicated to the farmers applying.

The union’s concerns have been exacerbated by reports that elements of the application system still aren’t ready; these include the amendments of fields, which it is believed will not be fully online for this year.  Farmers who applied online for SPS 2014 will be encouraged to apply online this year.

However, NFU vice president Guy Smith said that applicants must be aware of the pitfalls to avoid the issues seen last year. Smith said, “The online system’s limited capabilities need to be front and centre so farmers can make an informed choice. We support a paper and online combination approach but strongly believe that farmers should have the choice to do whatever works for them.

“We have been contacted by many of our members who are very keen they can return to making digital applications. While we fully support this progressive attitude we are adamant there should be no return to the ‘digital by default’ decision made in 2014 with no plan B paper backup.”

The deadline for applications is 16th May. Last year’s deadline was pushed back by a month in light of technical issues and the changeover to a new scheme.

Last week, RPA announced that 77 percent of claimants (66,800 farmers and landowners) had received their 2015 BPS payments by the end of January. The Agency’s target was to have made the ‘vast majority’ of payments by this date, though there has been some debate over what constitutes the ‘vast majority’.

On Wednesday, NFU’s Guy Smith said, “While our attention has been drawn to BPS 2016, we are very aware that there are farmers out there who haven’t been paid for BPS 2015. We are still pushing for these payments to go out as soon as possible. Farmers can’t move on until they’ve been paid, we are ensuring the RPA know that.”

Responding, an RPA spokesperson said, "We are already showing stakeholders, farmers and agents what they will be able to do online and will be offering clear guidance and support for everyone, so that they know exactly what to do with their applications and when.

"We are continuing with the same Rural Payments service that successfully registered 88,000 farmers for BPS 2015. We will contact BPS applicants when the service is ready for them to use and let them know what they need to do."