On Wednesday, the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) announced that it had reached its target of paying over 90% of farmers their Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments within the first month of the payment window opening.

After severe delays in the scheme’s first year, there were concerns for this year’s performance. However, in December the NFU’s vice president Guy Smith said he believed the Agency would meet this year’s payment target and on Wednesday (4th January) RPA confirmed that 78,000 (91%) of farmers in England received their 2016 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) money by the end of December.

RPA Chief Executive Mark Grimshaw said, “We understand how important BPS payments are to farmers and that’s why we’ve worked hard to get money into bank accounts in the first month of the payment window, injecting just over £1.4 billion into the farming and wider rural economy.

“This month we will communicate directly with those farmers who will be paid from January onwards to help them plan.”

Also commenting, Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom said, “I know how important these payments are to farmers and I am pleased that the RPA has surpassed its target of making 90% of payments by the end of December.

“This is good progress but both Mark Grimshaw and I are clear that the Agency will remain fully focussed on processing claims as quickly as possible until everyone is paid.”

On Wednesday, Guy Smith said that the union is “encouraged” by RPA’s announcement, but added that the Agency needs to ensure the remainder of 2015 and 2016 claim issues are addressed by the end of January, including not only cross border claims and those with common land, but also the remainder of 2015 claim issues that remain.
 
The NFU has been calling on Defra to make bridging payments for farmers whose payments will be delayed.

Smith said, “BPS payments don't just help the cash flows for farm businesses but also the wider rural economy as farmers use the money to pay for goods and services.
 
“However we are hearing from plenty of members still not paid and from others who don't think they have been paid the right amount. So amidst our congratulations we remind the RPA there is much still to do.”
 
“We welcome the RPA re-introducing whole case workers for those not paid at this point, but we also want to see all outstanding queries addressed as soon as possible to allow farmers to complete their forthcoming 2017 applications with greater confidence than in previous years.
 
“To help the situation, the RPA needs to improve on its communication and support for those that still have issues, many are still in the dark as a result of poor RPA customer service to this point.”