RPA reminder to update email addresses

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) in England is reminding farmers to update their email addresses to prevent important communications being missed.

As the RPA has increased its use of email, so too have cases of producers missing important correspondence.

This is attributed to wrong or old emails being hurriedly registered on the system when the changeover to email contact was introduced.

This can lead to big problems, said CLA regional surveyor for the South East, David Hill.

See also: Farmers dissatisfied with BPS ‘wall of silence’

“Claimants are missing important information because they rushed to enter email addresses that may have been old or incorrect when they were originally asked for contact details.”

For example, many claimants who did not have their own email addresses initially registered with those of family members or used an address that is no longer in use.

Read carefully

The agency, which has paid out £1.35bn to the 86,828 claimants of the Basic Payment Scheme so far this year, also urged farmers to read all important correspondence carefully so not to miss any vital information about BPS payments.

An RPA spokesman said: “This is just a gentle reminder to everybody to make sure all of their details are up to date. This includes, emails, postal addresses and telephone numbers. It doesn’t affect payment reconciliation or payments updates.”

To update your account details, visit: www.ruralpayments.service.gov.uk.