The Rural Payments Agency announced on Thursday that it achieved its end of March SPS payment target more than five weeks ahead of schedule. RPA had paid 98.4 percent of SPS customers and 97.2 percent of the estimated fund value by 19th February 2013.

RPA chief executive Mark Grimshaw said this year's performance is the Agency's strongest ever. RPA has paid £1.6 billion to more than 102,000 English farmers, achieving the benchmark set by the EU a full four months early. The EU demands payment agencies distribute more than 95 percent of scheme fund value by the end of June.

Mr Grimshaw commented, “This is good news for the RPA and clearly demonstrates our commitment to delivering an excellent, trusted service to our customers. But even more importantly, this is good news for English farmers and producers, with the overwhelming majority receiving vital funds in record time."

However, he revealed that claims from 1,500 farmers are still outstanding. The RPC chief executive added, "We continue to concentrate our efforts on paying the 1,500 customers whose claims need further work before payment can be made."

Farming Minister David Heath welcomed the news on Thursday. Mr Heath is overseeing the agency's performance; RPA set itself "Ministerial commitments" in its latest Business Plan. He said, "I congratulate everyone at the Agency on a sterling performance. Well over £1.6 billion has now been paid to more than 102,000 farmers and this will be particularly welcome news to the industry during what has been a very challenging time."

RPA met its end of December SPS target on the first banking day of this year's payment window, paying more than £1.38 billion to more than 95,000 farmers. These payments, reaching 91.4 percent of RPA's SPS customers, represented 84.6 percent of the estimated fund value.