At the start of May, the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) announced that all farmers in England had either received their full 2015 BPS payments or a bridging payment (worth half the value of the full payment) where claims were subject to delays further delays.

The announcement sparked a furious response from some who felt they were owed, but had yet to receive funds. A Farming Online poll revealed a number of concerned farmers still had outstanding queries and had not received payment from the Agency.

After announcing at the beginning of the month that “all eligible farmers have now received a payment” - under the headline “All farmers have now been paid their full payment or bridging payment” - RPA has backtracked somewhat this week; On Monday, the Agency said that, to date, over 86,200 (or 99%) farmers had received a claim or bridging payment on their BPS 2015 claim.

In response to questions about the payments, and a request for clarification on the 99% figure from Farming Online, RPA said “To date, 99% of customers have received a payment on their claim. This is a claim payment, a bridging payment or a hardship payment.
 
“The 1% relates to customers where we have either completed their claim and no payment is due (as the claim is below minimum claim size) or because a payment is not currently possible (we are waiting on legal proceedings in probate cases to complete).”

Even so, the confusion will do little to reverse the acrimony of those with outstanding queries, or who are still awaiting the full balance of their payment.

The NFU’s vice president Guy Smith was amongst those whose 2015 claim was delayed. He has taken a lead on the issue in the union, and has urged any farmers who have yet to receive their full BPS 2015 payment to approach him to discuss any problems with direct payments at the Northumberland County Show on Monday.  

On Wednesday, NFU’s Senior BPS advisor Richard Wordsworth said the union had raised concerns with the RPA after being contacted by a number of members who had not received any payment at the beginning of May.
 
He said there were two groups where no payment had been made at beginning of May: first are probate cases, but that there are cases every year when a claimant dies and there are legal processes to go through before payments can be made to their successor.
 
However, a second group of people who missed out on payments, and were left frustrated after the RPA’s announcement on 1st May; some were those whose cases had commons land which was not recognised, bringing their claims below the minimum to secure direct payments, and leaving them legitimately aggrieved.
 
Mr Wordsworth said in relation to this second group of claimants,  “Some farmers who had been expecting payment only learned that they were not eligible five months into the seven month payment window. Bad news is never good news, but when it’s given late it’s even worse.
 
“99% isn’t 100%, and to my mind the lack of clarification around the statement affects its accuracy.”
 
The RPA said in its initial announcement that “all eligible farmers” had been paid by 1st May, but the NFU advisor argues this would have been confusing and disappointing, and needed qualifying for those who thought they had legitimate claims up until May.