More than 95% of farmers received their 2020 Basic Payment Scheme
(BPS) money in the first day of the payment window for recipients
of the scheme.
Despite the challenges faced by coronavirus this year, the Rural
Payments Agency (RPA) is on track to achieve its best-ever
payment performance. Approximately £1.671 billion was paid to
farmers for BPS on the first day of the payment window, which
runs from December to June, a further improvement on 2019 where
£1.192 billion was released.
In addition eligible farmers were issued Countryside Stewardship
(CS) revenue payments totalling £40m; and Environmental
Stewardship (ES) payments totalling £60m are expected within the
first few days of the window. An improvement on 2019 where no
payments were released.
Those who claimed CS and ES agreements in 2020 will receive one
full payment this year as part of a wider plan to deliver a
better service to farmers and land managers.
This is the first year that these payments have been funded
directly by the UK Government rather than by the EU.
RPA Chief Executive Paul Caldwell said:
We are committed to ensuring timely payments to farmers and
land managers, so that rural businesses can plan for the year
ahead.
2020 has been a challenging year for many and I have been
really pleased at the progress we have made which has resulted
in this level of performance despite the difficulties presented
by coronavirus. This is testament to the hard work of people
within the agency and the measures we have taken to further
simplify CS.
Payments are made direct to bank accounts via BACS transfer so
farmers should ensure that the RPA has the most up-to-date
account details on the Rural Payments service.
On Monday, as part of a wider agricultural transition plan,
the government announced
that Direct Payments will gradually be reduced over a seven
year period, starting from the 2021 Basic Payment Scheme year.
This money will be used to fund new grants and schemes to boost
productivity and reward environmental improvements. Support and
advice will be available to help those most affected by the
phasing out of Direct Payments during the agricultural transition
period.
Farming Minister 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
Basic Payment Scheme 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.
