Rural Payments Agency
More than 80,000 (93%) farmers in England have now received their 2016 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) money.
This means the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has paid 93% of eligible claims more than two months ahead of its end of March target.
The payments are worth 1.48 billion and include a range of 2016 BPS claim types and sizes, including cross border, young farmer, those inspected and farmers with common land.
Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom said:
I know how important these payments are to farmers and I am pleased that the RPA is ahead of schedule meeting their target of making 93% of payments well before the end of March.
This is good progress. However I am very clear that the Agency will remain fully focussed on paying all remaining eligible claims as quickly as possible.
BPS Operational Delivery Director Paul Caldwell said:
We know how much these payments matter to farmers and the progress made so far underlines our commitment to getting money into bank accounts as quickly as possible.
Weve worked hard to make sure farmers receive their payments, but we know there is still more work to do. I remain absolutely focused on ensuring the Agency continues to pay every eligible claim.
BPS payments are made direct to bank accounts, so farmers should make sure RPA has the most up-to-date account details. Once a payment has been made a remittance advice is sent in the post, confirming the amount paid.
More information on 2016 BPS, including scheme rules and details of how payments are calculated, is available at www.gov.uk/rpa/bps2016