RPA has announced the flat rate values of entitlements for the three English regions under the 2013 Single Payment Scheme:

• €323.97 for Non-SDA (Severely Disadvantaged Areas)
• €260.29 for upland SDA, other than Moorland
• €45.47 for upland SDA Moorland

The conversion rate that will be applied is €1 = £0.84 (based on the value of the Euro in September 2013).

RPA uses these figures to calculate 2013 Single Payment Scheme (SPS) payments. Payments will be made for validated claims once the payment window opens next month.

Entitlement values are established before claims are finalised and before European and National modulation deductions, Financial Discipline Mechanism (being applied for the first time in 2013) or any penalties are applied. Financial discipline will reduce payments at a rate of 2.45 percent, after the first €2,000 (£1,700). The Mechanism is a way of reducing direct payments, including SPS, to ensure spending does not exceed the EU budget.

As a result of these changes, SPS payments will be lower in reality than the values shown on claimants' Entitlements Statements, RPA said on Wednesday.

2013 Entitlements Statements

RPA said it will start to make SPS 2013 Entitlements Statements available to view online from early January 2014. Paper copies of Entitlements Statements and guidance should also be sent out in January 2014, to those farmers and agents who requested them. The Agency urged farmers and growers to check their 2013 Entitlements Statement to verify that information on the Statement is correct – and to notify RPA in writing if they believe any information to be incorrect