RPA rocked by staff in sex scandal

Employees at the Rural Payments Agency’s office at Tyneside are under investigation following allegations that staff romped around naked in offices and had sex in toilets.

According to reports on the BBC the conduct came to light after some members of staff were caught on closed circuit television cameras.

In addition the activities also included staff leaping naked from filing cabinets, break-dancing competitions during office hours and fighting in a reception area.

In response to the activities the RPA has issued the following statement:

“Allegations of serious misconduct by some agency and permanent staff at our Newcastle office is the subject of an ongoing internal investigation.

“Disciplinary action and a dismissal have already taken place and further action is pending. It would be inappropriate to comment further while these investigations and disciplinary actions are continuing.

“[The] RPA expects high standards of its staff, who have very important and responsible jobs to do for the farming industry, and will not tolerate breaches such as those described.”

A spokesman for the RPA sought to reassure farmers that the activities and the investigation did not have a negative impact on the processing of applications under the Single Payment Scheme.

“We expect the investigation to have zero to minimal impact on the processing of SFP applications.  Only 10% of the work carried out by the 912 staff at the Newcastle office of the RPA is SPS related,” said the spokesman.