To us, that is payments for those that have yet to receive any BPS monies from the RPA or RPW in Wales; top up payments for those who have received a bridging or hardship payment in the recent past as well as correcting those ‘full’ payments that have been issued and more monies are due.
Whether you were paid back in December or more recently or in deed not received a full payment yet, there are two key questions that you need to consider now or when you are paid in full (full payment is signified by the receipt of a claim statement, which now arrive within 10 days of the payment), these are:
Does your full 2015 BPS payment tie in with what you claimed for last year?
If you are concerned about any aspects of your full BPS payment or associated claim statement have you written to the RPA about the issues, titling your correspondence ‘BPS 2015 payment’?
If the answer to these questions is no, then you need to take action now, so that your concerns are logged correctly with the RPA and that they are able to look at them at the earliest possible time to help clarify the situation and also minimise any delay in receiving a correct 2016 payment later this year. Given all the issues with the roll out and processing of the 2015 claims, it is vital that you check your 2015 claim data carefully, be that transfer of entitlements, common land allocation, greening or young farmer payments.
To help you, the NFU has put together a number of guides for members with BPS 2015 payment issues over the last 6 months. These are listed below.
Guidance:
- 2015 greening inspection findings
- New NFU Q&A on BPS Payment Correction
- BPS bridging payments – what you need to know
- BPS 2015 entitlement and greening value information
- BPS briefing: 2015 claim payment issues
- BPS payments – making sense of your 2015 claim statement
- Our Q&A on payment correction
- BPS complaints and appeals guidance
- Maladministration and the role of the Parliamentary Ombudsman
If you need further help, then please call NFU Callfirst on 0370 845 8458, they will be able to guide you through the BPS payment issues.
These payments are key to the industry and ensuring that you receive what is due to you is key to us.