BPS 2017 help thread

[radar]

Do you have to submit a map showing EFA features or is just adding them to the land use section sufficient?

Just add to the land use. Depending on which code (hedge or other), will determine whether you have to enter a length or area.

 

[Try to succeed]

I've still not managed to get a clear answer re what to do if I have a maize block in a field for the shoot. Last year I gave up and put it in the main crop area. What does everyone else do?

 

[yellow belly]

I put .8 ha of maize in one field with a 2 acre maize plot
where we have chicory I put down the area for the plot as chicory
every type of crop has a crop code
they do have code for mixed crop up to 5 species per mixture with 5 different crop codes available for each different mixture

 

[Rufus]

An apparently simple question.

What does the statement on the front sheet of the RLE1 form mean?

'If you are claiming (or intend to claim) under a Rural Development Programme scheme put an 'X' in this box'

My whole farm is in the ELS enviro scheme does this mean I check this box? I don't think it relates to this, I think it means if your applying for a grant for solar farm or a tearoom under the RDP scheme. The fella from the RPA helpline said I should check the box as I'm in ELS, I disagree

Any thoughts please

 

[organicguy]

An apparently simple question.

What does the statement on the front sheet of the RLE1 form mean?

'If you are claiming (or intend to claim) under a Rural Development Programme scheme put an 'X' in this box'

My whole farm is in the ELS enviro scheme does this mean I check this box? I don't think it relates to this, I think it means if your applying for a grant for solar farm or a tearoom under the RDP scheme. The fella from the RPA helpline said I should check the box as I'm in ELS, I disagree

Any thoughts please

We had the same query yesterday. We think stewardship schemes are RDPE funded. (but I'm only a farmer.)

 

[TWF]

Should I still submit my claim even when the online system says "Crop diversification rules met: NO" and "Greening rules met: NO"?
I am 100% certain we have met both sets of rules. I think the issues comes from the fact I have a couple of under and over declared parcels. The RPA have severely messed up our mapping this year (apparently due to both a physical inspection last year which they haven't actioned yet, as well as a remote sensing inspection). Because of this the helpdesk advised me not to fill in our form according to the areas on the system (as they acknowledged the maps are wrong and we would be submitting incorrect information, and that the maps will not be updated or corrected in time), but to essentially put in the information as we see correct, which is the same as the data we submitted last year.
I have done this, but get three fields with over/under declared, which seems to be messing up the checkboxes for meeting the diversification and greening rules.
Having made I don't know how many calls to the helpdesk over the past 2 months, I don't think I can face yet another one, so does anyone have any advice?

Have you ticket the Part L on the declaration section? Mine said No on the greening rules till I had.
As long as you submit by May 15th you can make alterations to it till the end of May.

 

[Meadow Brown]

RLE1s

Does anyone know if RLE1s can be handed in to an RPA office or do they have to go by post? Just deadline is next Monday so forms will need to be posted THIS FRIDAY first class ( signed for!). I hate posting stuff to Gov offices
Last year forms could be sent in until 31st May I believe (without penalty) though can't find any literature this year to confirm this.

They've still not confirmed extension re RLE1s till May 31st but have found that you CAN drop off forms at certain RPA offices. Thank goodness!!

 

[Meadow Brown]

Have you ticket the Part L on the declaration section? Mine said No on the greening rules till I had.
As long as you submit by May 15th you can make alterations to it till the end of May.

I think you may have to generate a new application form though...! So all work to be done again....

 

[Punch]

Have you ticket the Part L on the declaration section? Mine said No on the greening rules till I had.
As long as you submit by May 15th you can make alterations to it till the end of May.

If you do resubmit after 15th May make sure to send an email explaining re-application due to changes. Best to give brief details of those changes in the email. Otherwise can get late application penalties.

 

[Northdowns Martin]

Submitted application Friday morning online, print out says date and time submitted but not had a confirmation email, only going on last years experience but should I have got an automated reply that it's been received?

 

[radar]

Submitted application Friday morning online, print out says date and time submitted but not had a confirmation email, only going on last years experience but should I have got an automated reply that it's been received?

No don't remember getting one, but on they did send a confirmation by "message" on RPA site when you log on to your account.

 

[Northdowns Martin]

No don't remember getting one, but on they did send a confirmation by "message" on RPA site when you log on to your account.

Thank you will have a look

 

[caveman]

Submitted application Friday morning online, print out says date and time submitted but not had a confirmation email, only going on last years experience but should I have got an automated reply that it's been received?

Just signed in for a look see and there is a message acknowledging receipt of claim yesterday morning.

 

[Northdowns Martin]

Just signed in for a look see and there is a message acknowledging receipt of claim yesterday morning.

That's clever can you hack anyone's account?

 

[Feldspar]

Me too!

What does the status say on yours? Mine has gone from "Validation" to "Final Checking". I think it has to move to "Preparing for Payment" before it gets paid, which is always on a Thursday, to land in your bank account the following Monday.

I suspect that those whose status still say "Validation" at this stage will be paid 75% at the end of March. In fact,I am convinced that this is what RPA are working towards right now. Hence not dealing with any other problems until that is done.

RPA seriously cocked up with us. They told me that we should expect full payment 2 weeks ago yesterday. When it didn't arrive, I got hold of my case worker, who agreed that under the circumstances, they would dig out our claim and deal with it urgently. The problem is that some fields have not been assigned a GIS status (arable, grass, woodland, etc). It is all to do with the fact that a satellite could not see a field, due to clouds I presume.

What I want to know is why they can't use the most recent or even historic Google Earth maps to confirm that a field is what we say it is on our forms? If it has tramlines, it must be arable FFS!


RPA are still holding up our NE Mid Tier Stewardship for exactly the same reason. I did some work on assessing how much seed we need to order for MTS yesterday. To do so, I dug out our 2016 claim form to check the latest field size areas. It dawned on me that many of the problems RPA are having still relate back to the computer software issues that stopped all online applications in 2015.

This was partly due to the fact that under the old SPS system, you had to remove all track-ways from the farmed area of a field. Whereas under the BPS scheme you may claim the tracks if they are soil or grass, but not if they are stoned or hard. What the idiots did was to assume all tracks are claimable, which often means you could claim a larger eligible area that the field shows is eligible! The form actually encourages you to do this!

Why couldn't they have left it as it was and let us as farmers or agents show whether or not these tracks are claimable or not?

It seems to me that every time the EU does one of its major reviews and changes the system, some bright spark thinks that it can be made so much easier by inventing a major new computer software system that can take information from the previous system and adapt it to the new one. No it can't! It is far too complicated to account for every situation to expect a software program to deal with every eventuality.

Every time they make these changes, the time taken to resolve the issues gets longer and longer. In this case, I doubt whether they will get resolved before another review is due.

Thank God we will soon be out of it. Perhaps we can invent a system that doesn't need dramatically altering every 5 years, if at all.

Have sent you a PM about this post.

 

[Two Tone]

Have sent you a PM about this post.

I haven't received it yet. Do you want to try sending the PM again?

 

[Feldspar]

I haven't received it yet. Do you want to try sending the PM again?

Sorry, was in the middle of writing it and then found an extra complexity to the issue I wanted to ask you about. Will reword and send later this afternoon. Basically have had an inspection report from the RPA who've made a huge mess of our mapping and I was looking for your advice.

 

[Two Tone]

Sorry, was in the middle of writing it and then found an extra complexity to the issue I wanted to ask you about. Will reword and send later this afternoon. Basically have had an inspection report from the RPA who've made a huge mess of our mapping and I was looking for your advice.

No worries. I'll wait to get it later.
I'm on day 2 of trying to sort our 2017 claim for Mid Tier Stewardship atm. What a bugger that is too! I'll be in my office all day.