BPS online registration ‘slower than usual’ this week

Farmers and land agents are being warned that the online registration service for the new CAP Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) may be working slower this week.

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) said its BPS online registration service – was unavailable on Monday morning (2 February) as IT experts were adding new features on to the service.

The RPA said it expected the service to be available again for registration on Monday afternoon. Farmers should register on the Gov.uk website.

See also: Six steps to preparing for BPS registration

However, Defra has warned farmers and land agents of further delays to the service this week.

“Please note that the service may be slower than usual this week,” said Defra in a statement.

“You will still be able to register. Some of the details of your land might not be visible to you – certainly for the first part of the week while we make these updates.”

The BPS telephone registration service is operating as normal, the RPA said. To register, call the RPA helpline on 03000 200 301. The helpline is open from 7am – 6pm Monday to Friday and 8am – 2pm at weekends.

 Defra updates on service availability will be added to its CAP reform blog and via the RPA Twitter account @ruralpay.

Meanwhile, the RPA announced it exceeded its Single Payment Scheme (SPS) 2014 target for the end of March, more than two months ahead of schedule.

By Wednesday (28 January) the agency had paid a total of nearly £1.46bn to nearly 100,000 farmers in England – equivalent to 98.4% of farmers eligible to claim and 97.3% of the total estimated fund value.