Latest payment figures show they have now paid around 68,200 farmers in England, or 79% of eligible claimants. Progress to date accounts for an estimated £1.14bn or 67% of the total BPS fund.
While promising, around 21% of claimants are still waiting for 31% of the BPS monies, suggesting above average payments are outstanding. The RPA is now getting into paying these larger claims and the average amount of the 9,200 claims paid this week is over £30,000.
Looking forward, in order to hit its 90% of claims paid in December target, the RPA needs to issue around 9,500 claims over the next two payment runs on 22 and 29 December. The agency has reiterated to the NFU that it will work during the festive period to finalise payments.
NFU Vice President Guy Smith said: "This is timely seasonal news not just for the 10,000 claimants who were paid in the week before Christmas but also their suppliers whose bills will now get paid. It looks like the RPA are taking their race towards '90% by Dec 31st' to the wire but I'm still backing them to do it.
"However concerns remain. We are still asking DEFRA to pay a bridging payment to those 10% unpaid who cannot be guaranteed of a payment in January. We are particularly mindful here of farmers in the uplands with commons - winter can be tough enough for these farmers without being told they are at the back of the BPS queue again. We are also hearing from farmers who don't think they have been paid the correct amount. It's feeling a bit deja vue. We intend to do some survey work in the new year to get a more comprehensive picture as to what the feeling is on the farm."
Our latest action on BPS
We are in regular contact with the RPA to monitor progress against the target and to ensure claims and payments are cleared as soon as possible in the New Year – both remaining 2016 payments and adjustments for 2015 / 2016 claims already paid.
A particular NFU concern is around those paid late for BPS 2015 and those still awaiting monies, including members claiming on common land. While commoners’ BPS payments are being made for 2016, the pace of delivery is not helping these claimants. We’ve been working with other stakeholders like the Foundation for Common Land and CAAV to raise concerns over commons BPS claims. You can read more here.
In addition to this activity, the NFU has again raised with the Secretary of State the need for bridging payments for those not paid by early January, to help with ongoing cash flow pressures. The NFU and NFU Cymru have also jointly written to RPA CEO Mark Grimshaw, raising concerns about a lack of progress in improving the service and communications to cross-border claimants.
Finally the NFU spoke to HMRC last week about the BPS payment situation and the challenges some members may face at the end of January when tax bills are due to be settled.