Vast majority of BPS payments or loans delivered

An overwhelming majority of eligible farmers and landowners have received their 2020 basic payments, providing a timely boost to rural businesses following a challenging farming year.

Payment agencies in England and Wales have reported that more than 96% of farmers and landowners have received either their full Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments, or an advance loan containing the bulk of their claims.

As of 14 December, the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) had paid 97.1% of BPS claims, worth £1.75bn in total, to some 84,000 farmers in England.

See also: Exit payments: What should farmers do to prepare for 2022?

In addition, 61% of Countryside Stewardship (CS) and 51% of Environmental Stewardship (ES) claims have been paid. The total value of payments to date were £57.21m and £73.94m, respectively.

Defra farm minister Victoria Prentis said: “I am delighted that the efforts of the Rural Payments Agency during this difficult year has resulted in more farmers getting their payments quickly.

“From next year we will start to use funds released from the BPS to reward farmers and land managers for sustainable farming practices, help them to improve productivity and we will ensure that there is farm resilience support available for the first three years of the agricultural transition period.”

Essex farmer and Farmers Weekly columnist Guy Smith received his BPS and CS payments on 2 December. He said: “We had half a harvest, so I’m very grateful for the cashflow, given the difficulties of the year.”

But he added: “We must always acknowledge that there are people out there who haven’t been paid.”

Devolved regions

In Scotland, the Scottish government said Basic Payment Support, Greening and Young Farmer 2020 payments started to arrive in the bank accounts of more than 13,000 farm businesses from 14 December. The majority of eligible claimants have already received up to 95% of their payment through a government loan in October.

In Wales, the Welsh government said that, as of this week, just over 96% of Welsh farm businesses had either received their full BPS payment or a BPS support payment, with more than £225m paid to more than 15,100 claimants. Payments for Glastir agri-environment scheme claims will begin in January 2021.

In Northern Ireland, full direct payments have now been issued to more than 99% of eligible farmers, totalling £292.7m, said the NI Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.