In brief...
Unfortunately, from time to time things go wrong with the handling of a situation. There may be a delay which is not your fault, or perhaps you were provided with misleading information. There may be no legal remedy in these situations, but this is where maladministration and the Parliamentary Ombudsman can come in.
Farmers are regularly in contact with government departments, for example when claiming BPS or agri-environment schemes.
Often these relationships work well, but from time to time things go wrong and farmers may face payment delays or penalties as a result of these errors. There may be no legal remedy; for example if a farmer has technically broken the scheme rules it may not be possible to appeal against the penalties imposed, but if the guidance was misleading the farmer may be able to pursue a maladministration complaint, seeking removal of the penalties to remedy the injustice caused by the misleading guidance.
Our new briefing explains maladministration in more detail, and discusses how maladministration complaints can be pursued. The article also discusses they types of remedy that may be available, and highlights some examples of where maladministration has been successfully used in a farming context in other cases.