Single farm payment fiasco set to continue

Producers face another gruelling year dealing with the Rural Payments Agency, an exclusive on-line poll carried out by Farmers Weekly suggests.

With the window for 2007 Single Farm Payments due to open on 1 December, some 94% of respondents to an FWi poll said they had not received a statement from the agency detailing their definitive entitlement for 2006.

The agency is understood to be preparing to dispatch definitive statements confirming the exact amount of money to which individual farmers were entitled under the 2006 Single Payment Scheme. They will be sent out over the coming weeks.

As many as 24,000 farmers believe they have received an incorrect single farm payment, according to the NFU. In addition, some 6500 farmers who transferred entitlements before April 2006 are still waiting for a definitive statement.

NFU SPS adviser Richard Wordsworth said: “Some amounts are wrong, but others might not be. Not everyone is going to like what they see – they might end up owing the agency money because their entitlement has been recalculated.”

Entitlements were being recalculated in the shadow of the 2007 payment window. Unless 2005 and 2006 entitlements were accurate, the 2007 entitlement would also be incorrect, said Mr Wordsworth.

“Farmers are receiving money – which is helpful. But they need the confidence that the agency is working to the correct figures.”

An agency spokesman said farmers who believed they had received an incorrect statement should follow advice outlined on the agency’s website at www.rpa.gov.uk.