Farmer stages one-man protest at RPA’s office over BPS

A furious farmer is staging a one-man protest outside the head office of the Rural Payments Agency over non-payment of his 2015 Basic Payment Scheme claim.

Sam Stables got up at 4am on Monday (11 July) to make the 104-mile journey to the RPA’s offices in Reading, Berkshire.

Recent entrant Mr Stables and his wife Emily, who have a four-year-old son, secured a 15-year farm business tenancy agreement with the Duchy of Cornwall in March 2015.

See also: MPs slam ‘unacceptable’ delays by RPA

Farmers Weekly featured a story of the couple last May explaining their business plan to Prince Charles, the current Duke of Cornwall, who is actively involved in running the Duchy.

Mr and Mrs Stables farm 600 sheep and have established a contract-pig rearing unit at 117ha Kings Pitt Farm, in Kingsthorne, Herefordshire.

Under the agreement, their farm tenancy is paid quarterly in advance.

Their last payment was due on 24 June, but the couple has been unable to pay due to a lack of cash.

Duchy is ‘100% supportive’

Mr Stables stressed the Duchy have been “100% supportive” and understand their predicament – and there is no suggestion they will be kicked off the farm.

The couple applied for and received a government hardship payment of £11,000 at the end of February, which kept their business ticking over.

However, seven-and-a-half months since the BPS payment window opened on 1 December, they are still waiting to receive an estimated £14,000 from the RPA, which includes a 25% young farmer top-up payment.

Mr Stables told Farmers Weekly: “This year’s BPS payments scheme has been a complete cock up.

“On the back of low commodity prices, the way the RPA has been behaving is yet another kick in the knackers for hard-pressed farmers.

“We are new entrants so we don’t have any money to fall back on. We are just living hand to mouth.

“The payments deadline has been extended to mid-October. We cannot afford to wait until then to receive our BPS. We have got other bills to pay. We’re just existing at the moment.”

One-man protest

Mr Stables spent Sunday evening (10 July) making a placard to take with him to his one-man protest.

The sign, made from cardboard and A4 paper stuck together, said: “Shame on you RPA. No more excuses. Where is our BPS?”

The back of his sign says: “There are thousands of hardworking farming families struggling.”

Mr Stables said he decided to stage his protest after getting “fobbed off” from agency staff working on the RPA helpline amid a complete lack of communication from the agency over when he could expect to receive the remainder of his BPS claim.

I am not the only one. There are thousands of farmers in the same boat Sam Stables

“All anybody wants is a bit of clarity,” he added.

“I am not the only one. There are thousands of farmers in the same boat.”

He called on the RPA boss Mark Grimshaw to resign over the “BPS payments shambles”.

“He is the head man. He should do the decent thing and walk away.”

Mr Stables said he is confident he has a good business plan and his business could carry itself in a post-Brexit era without BPS support.

“We started with nothing and we are just building the business up. We have a strong business model and in the long term, we have got the infrastructure for it to be successful.”

‘Tremendous support’

Mr Stables paid tribute to the Duchy, the Farming Community Network, David Gwatkin and the Borderlands Rural Chaplaincy for their unwavering support during the past few months.

“It’s been a difficult time, but the support we have received from these people has been tremendous,” he said.

Mr Stables has vowed to carry on his protest outside the RPA offices until he receives written confirmation from the agency over when he can expect to receive his payment, including the full amount.

In its latest communication, the RPA outlined plans to resolve claims for 13,000 individual claims and investigate any differences in land and entitlements held before making any adjustments to allow top-up payments.

However, the NFU has estimated up to 20,000 BPS claimants are still to receive full or top-up payments.

An RPA spokesman said: “As well as the cases known to RPA, and so it can investigate all claim issues as part of the planned payment reconciliation process, the agency asked farmers who believe their payment was not what they expected to write to them.

“The process involves investigating any differences in land and entitlements held and any other factors impacting the value of the claim and making any necessary data adjustments and top-up payments.

“Anyone with a query can still write to RPA, so it can investigate.”