A total of 36 new members have been appointed to serve on the Rural Payment Agency's Independent Agricultural Appeals Panel, supplementing 14 existing members whose terms have been extended for a further year.

The new members have been appointed for a three-year period from 1st October 2014 to 30th September 2017. The new Common Agriculture Policy expected to give rise to an increase in activity, swelling the panel's workload.

Appeals panels meet to consider appeals from farmers and traders against decisions made by the RPA. However, the final decision on each appeal is made by Farming Minister George Eustice.

RPA Customer Director Justin Chamberlain said, "These appointments strengthen our pool of panel members with a broad range of skills and backgrounds, so we are in the best place possible to consider appeals with due impartiality.

"The Rural Payments Agency does its best to resolve complaints and appeals at an early stage, but inevitably there are some cases where we cannot agree with the complainant, who may well not accept our decision. The Independent Agricultural Appeals Panel provides an important avenue for these cases, bringing external independent expert consideration to cases."

Full details of the newly appointed members are available on the RPA website