BPS 2019

[theboytheboy]

If anyone has got any proper evidence that the RPA are lying I’d genuinely like to hear it.
I’m about as close to this as any claimant can be, I’m not paid but I trust the figures as accurate and it accords with the mood music in the membership.
As for the NFU holding the RPA to account, I’m also open to suggestions as to what we should do that we aren’t doing already.
The facts are this is the best December payment performance I’ve seen as an NFU officeholder in five years.
But I fully understand how when the vast majority have been paid then for the few who haven’t it feels very unfair.

Could you ask them to give the reason as to why payments are delayed?

I think most people find it easier to accept if there is a reason given.....and it may be something the applicant has or has not done etc

For example is it because I sent rle1 forms in?

 

[cattleman123]

If anyone has got any proper evidence that the RPA are lying I’d genuinely like to hear it.
I’m about as close to this as any claimant can be, I’m not paid but I trust the figures as accurate and it accords with the mood music in the membership.
As for the NFU holding the RPA to account, I’m also open to suggestions as to what we should do that we aren’t doing already.
The facts are this is the best December payment performance I’ve seen as an NFU officeholder in five years.
But I fully understand how when the vast majority have been paid then for the few who haven’t it feels very unfair.

Guy thank you so much for responding, I totally agree its not easy but its awfully annoying to see and hear that fellow farmers have been paid, chatting to a n/bour who I rent some grass off...he does zero work has no stock and loves getting his bit of money for doing nothing,tells me he had his on the 1st day, how annoying to hear ...it just maddens meloads of us on here work hard have to balance the books etc and don't get paid its obscene to say the very least. My claim is exactly the same as last years...I would just love to know what they do all summer and Autume

 

[Guy Smith]

Common land seems an annual fudgeabout. Could you set up a separate SBI for the common, and one for any other land, to at least get one bit sorted? Or does that just create new problems?

There is always a balance in the RPA between bringing in resource-hungry work arounds to get some of the money out or just sticking to the system and getting through it. I think the advance payment of 50 or 75% probably worked best to get some money out.
The RPA have been saddled with not enough resources and dysfunctional IT for too long that always leads to problems particularly in the early years of a scheme. You just hope lessons are learnt while they dream up new schemes of increasing complexity.

 

[Guy Smith]

Guy thank you so much for responding, I totally agree its not easy but its awfully annoying to see and hear that fellow farmers have been paid, chatting to a n/bour who I rent some grass off...he does zero work has no stock and loves getting his bit of money for doing nothing,tells me he had his on the 1st day, how annoying to hear ...it just maddens meloads of us on here work hard have to balance the books etc and don't get paid its obscene to say the very least. My claim is exactly the same as last years...I would just love to know what they do all summer and Autume

I can empathise. Somehow in the future we’ve got to try to target support to the active farmer who takes the risk and not just the landowner. I’m just never sure how to do it.

 

[Guy Smith]

Could you ask them to give the reason as to why payments are delayed?

I think most people find it easier to accept if there is a reason given.....and it may be something the applicant has or has not done etc

For example is it because I sent rle1 forms in?

I imagine most of the January payments will be where inspections have been undertaken. And many will have been inspected remotely without knowing about it.

We’ve always called for better information so those unpaid can better understand where they are in the system and get an idea of when they are to be paid. That’s why they brought the traffic light system but that struggles over more than a couple of weeks,

 

[Socksitis]

@Guy Smith I too have had the email of doom, but what makes this worse is the hold up of the HLS payment for the common. This was budgeted for the autumn 2019. Then of course the RPA changed the payment date to align with the BPS payment window. Not helpful. We have undergone mapping and have maps returned for the common. So what is the hold up?- it woud have been very much appreciated if at least one payment could be released.
I, along with so many other hill farmers will be under extreme pressure for yet another month or three trying to keep the wolves from the door.

 

[AT Aloss]

@Guy Smith my claim is unchanged from last year as well, do they consider it unusual?

Could you ask them to give the reason as to why payments are delayed?

I think most people find it easier to accept if there is a reason given.....and it may be something the applicant has or has not done etc

For example is it because I sent rle1 forms in?

Not in my case. I think all we can do is share information on here to develop a better understanding. I have an unchanged claim from 2018, I exceed crop diversification & EFA (I had an inspection in 2017 because they couldn't believe I had so many hedges in Lincolnshire) then measured them in 2018 with satellite & ignored around half of them again, but no need to send an RLE1 because I still had enough EFA! So really it should have been a doddle to process my claim.

I've already written to my MP to request a meeting about the Agriculture Bill, UK food security, Fair Business Banking, Defra, the EA, the RPA and I suggest everyone else does likewise. This government has 5 years and we need to start badgering them now to get any traction. Oh yea badgers, something else for the list.

 

[AT Aloss]

I imagine most of the January payments will be where inspections have been undertaken. And many will have been inspected remotely without knowing about it.

We’ve always called for better information so those unpaid can better understand where they are in the system and get an idea of when they are to be paid. That’s why they brought the traffic light system but that struggles over more than a couple of weeks,

If that's the case Guy they'd do well to update the poor helpline operators who take the brunt of our ire! If our claims are being remotely inspected surely the least we deserve to be told is whether there are questions to be answered. The remote measurement of hedges in 2018 is a classic example of time wasted in front a computer that the industry pays for.

 

[Hesston4860s]

If that's the case Guy they'd do well to update the poor helpline operators who take the brunt of our ire! If our claims are being remotely inspected surely the least we deserve to be told is whether there are questions to be answered. The remote measurement of hedges in 2018 is a classic example of time wasted in front a computer that the industry pays for.

On the subject of remote inspections, it turns out I’ve had one I didn’t know anything about it till I found the email in my spam folder the other week. Now even tho the RPA say I’m not eligible to claim and I’m still waiting after 2.5 years to get to my appeal, the inspection shows all of my land as BPS eligible !.

Work that one out.

 

[theboytheboy]

I imagine most of the January payments will be where inspections have been undertaken. And many will have been inspected remotely without knowing about it.

We’ve always called for better information so those unpaid can better understand where they are in the system and get an idea of when they are to be paid. That’s why they brought the traffic light system but that struggles over more than a couple of weeks,

Forgive my ignorance....what is the traffic light system/where do we see what colour we are?

 

[bankrupt]

Common land seems an annual fudgeabout.

Quite so.

The problem seems to be that 30 or 40 commoners may have their BPS payments delayed for some years because 1 or 2 commoners not actually even entitled to BPS fail to answer their queries on time.

Could you set up a separate SBI for the common, and one for any other land, to at least get one bit sorted?

Good idea.

This would help many of those short-changed on their arable BPS payments but whose agreed adjustments are still being held back by the RPA solely because their commons payments are still in limbo.

 

[Hindsight]

Forgive my ignorance....what is the traffic light system/where do we see what colour we are?

I think he means the terms 'claim validation' 'preparing for payment' those sort of terms rather than actual different coloured signalling. But like you I am interested in case I am missing something on the RPA site. In general I find that these traffic lights are pretty useless.

 

[bankrupt]

But like you I am interested in case I am missing something on the RPA site.

Same here, Hindsight.

Our current status on the RPA traffic light is :-

2015 - Preparing for payment.
2016 - Preparing for payment.
2017 - Preparing for payment.
2018 - Preparing for payment.
2019 - Claim validation.

It's all sky-blue pink to me.

 

[Hesston4860s]

I think he means the terms 'claim validation' 'preparing for payment' those sort of terms rather than actual different coloured signalling. But like you I am interested in case I am missing something on the RPA site. In general I find that these traffic lights are pretty useless.

I think I’ve also managed to break that system as well, my 2017 and 18 claims both show as still active but neither of them have a status !.
The status box is just blank.

 

[cattleman123]

Same here, Hindsight.

Our current status on the RPA traffic light is :-

2015 - Preparing for payment.
2016 - Preparing for payment.
2017 - Preparing for payment.
2018 - Preparing for payment.
2019 - Claim validation.

It's all sky-blue pink to me.

Exactly the same has mine...they have been sending out claim statements to all the one they have payed...why?..get the money out to everyone then send out the statements,i am very annoyed about this mess

 

[Guy Smith]

Forgive my ignorance....what is the traffic light system/where do we see what colour we are?

When the status on your claim progress on the RPA website goes from validation to preparing for statement etc.

 

[Guy Smith]

I was reminded today that in the past there have been many instances of claimants receiving the December ‘grinch’ letter saying they won’t be paid in December only for the money to be in accounts not long after. The RPA will be making more releases before the new year so it’s worth check bank accounts even if you’ve got a letter.

Having said that I know from experience that raising expectations only for them not to be met is a dangerous game. The money ain’t in the bank until it’s in the bank.

 

[Poorbuthappy]

Still waiting here.
Showing as preparing for payment since Nov 29.
On the plus side, "no email of doom", yet.

 

[cattleman123]

Just come in to dry out ofter getting soaked...check online ..and mine is now in Final Checking … at least someones in there office today and not on there xmas binge

 

[bankrupt]

Just come in to dry out ofter getting soaked.....and mine is now in Final Checking …

Found exactly the same here, cattleman123.

Couldn't really believe it.

It seems Guy Smith may turn out to be be right, after all.