The Rural Payments Agency is “failing on multiple levels” which in turn is causing “significant difficulties” for farmers, according to a new report.
The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee has launced its report, Performance of the Rural Payments Agency, which slams government performance.
The inquiry focuses on the Rural Payments Agency (RPA), which administers Defra subsidies to UK farmers.
The report found that the RPA is failing on multiple levels, causing significant difficulties throughout the UK for farmers.
The Committee is concerned that the RPA will be unable to effectively deliver the Countryside Stewardship and Environmental Stewardship scheme, and that it is not capable of rising to its post-Brexit challenges.
And up to 3,000 farmers still face delays in their payments, which the report says is “unacceptable”.
Communications with farmers and the complaints handling service remain poor, it adds. There are also widespread concerns over errors from recent mapping updates and inaccurate payments.
The report says changes to the way farmers will be paid once the UK leaves the EU will present further added challenges to the agency.
Suggested improvements
EFRA recommend that the RPA should set more stretching targets to encourage improved performance for the 2018 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS).
The agency has been urged to make 98 percent of payments by the end of March each year.
The report calls on the RPA to set out a clear strategy detailing how it will improve communications and complaints handling.
RPA has also been urged to publish an ambitious set of key performance indicators for delivering the Countryside Stewardship and Environmental Stewardship schemes.
Neil Parish, Chair of EFRA said it is crucial that UK farmers can rely on consistent and accurate payments.
“The farming industry relies on EU support for financial stability, and on the RPA to distribute subsidies on time,” Mr Parish explained.
“The RPA is failing on multiple levels, which is causing significant harm to farmers across the country. It is simply not good enough that over 3,000 farmers had not been paid by March 2018.
“We have real concerns that the RPA is incapable of providing timely support payments in the pre and post-Brexit world.
Mr Parish added: “Substantial improvements across the organisation are needed to address this. The RPA should set itself more stretching targets, set out a clear strategy for how it will improve handling of complaints, and detail how it will properly deliver the Countryside and Environmental Stewardship schemes.”
RPA criticism
The RPA has been a frequent target of criticism from the industry. In November, the NFU urged the RPA to pay over 90% of BPS claims by the end of December as uncertainty began to surface over the agency's effectiveness of getting payments out on time
NFU Vice President Guy Smith said: “We have not forgotten that thousands of farmers are still waiting and this causes real problems with cash flow when running a farm business.
“The vast majority of those still waiting are doing so through no fault of their own. It is the RPA’s process that is causing the delay.”
Last year, RPA’s chief executive publicly acknowledging the agency's shortcomings on how it manages farm support payments.
