Following pressure on the RPA from farmers and organisations including the NFU and CLA, six drop in centres have now opened a week early. They will be open until 10pm on Tuesday 15 May. They will accept fully completed BPS application forms and supporting documents, and provide receipts for them.

image expired

CLA Deputy President Mark Bridgeman said: “The drop-in centres are so important for farmers and their agents because some documents for BPS claims cannot be submitted online. Having access to this face-to-face service is a crucial part of helping the process to run smoothly and not result in delays to payments.

“Reducing the availability of these centres will place greater pressure on RPA staff to complete BPS administration in the lead-up to the 15 May deadline and could mean farmers are wasting time waiting around in unnecessary queues once the centres are officially open in May for the final two weeks of the process. We have been calling on the RPA to open up the centres as soon as possible during April to avoid further delays to the already slow claim process.”

This year the agency wanted and farmers to submit their BPS 2018 claims online but many farmers have complained on the RPA social media website that many of the online features do not work properly and are inflexible.

The centres are located at the main RPA sites:

Opening times are Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm (excluding bank holidays). On Tuesday 15 May only, drop-in centres will be open until 10pm.