The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has announced that over 54,000 farmers in England received their 2017 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) money over the first four days of the payment window.

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Payments between the 1^st and 6th December were made to over 63% of eligible claimants, and worth more than £850 million in total. These include a range of 2017 BPS claim types and sizes, as well as those inspected and farmers with common land.

Thanks to increased entitlement values and greening rates, coupled with the favourable BPS exchange rate confirmed in September, basic payments will be worth 25% more on average this year, compared to 2015.

RPA Chief Executive, Paul Caldwell said:

“I am pleased that the RPA has paid a similar number of farmers to last year at the start of the 2017 payment window. I understand entirely the importance of timely payments, and we remain focussed on getting the rest of the payments out as quickly as possible”.

Further updates on figures will be made throughout the payment window on GOV.UK.

BPS payments are made direct to bank accounts via BACS transfer so farmers should make sure RPA has the most up-to-date account details. Once a payment has been made a remittance advice is sent in the post, confirming the amount paid. Claim statements will also be sent, explaining how payments have been worked out.

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More information on BPS 2017, including scheme rules and details of how payments are calculated, is available at www.gov.uk/guidance/bps-2017.