RPA appeal

[ajcc]

RPA or NE or both??

NE are where my problems lay.
However you are equally entitled to obtain any papers and correspondence either entity hold about you and your landholding. They don’t like supplying it mind if they have stuff to hide but you are entitled to seek it out and the ICO will help you when others will not.
Personally I consider in my experience the RPA a more honest and straight organisation whether it be fieldsmen/inspectors or higher paygrades.
The other lot defy description and ELMs will be a shambles if NE are allowed near it.

 

[Hesston4860s]

I do believe a little bit more ammunition has arrived today in paper format !, we’ll file that with the rest !.

 

[Hesston4860s]

Still on going, still not heard anything !. Did have a remote sensing inspection that appears to show all my land as eligible.
It’s been a tough year and I could just do with the 18k I figure I’m owed, oh well start selling stuff off I suppose .

 

[Shropshire Farmer]

I’m in a similar predicament with the RPA after a stewardship inspection in May 18. I can live with a few penalties for little things. But when they are saying that margins don’t exist that clearly do. I’m in final appeal stage. Which was submitted 14 weeks ago. No acknowledgement or response. It’s disgraceful. Having been in stewardship for 20 years. Had inspections previously without an issues.

 

[steveR]

I’m in a similar predicament with the RPA after a stewardship inspection in May 18. I can live with a few penalties for little things. But when they are saying that margins don’t exist that clearly do. I’m in final appeal stage. Which was submitted 14 weeks ago. No acknowledgement or response. It’s disgraceful. Having been in stewardship for 20 years. Had inspections previously without an issues.

Feel for you having had a similiar "argument" with RPA after a less that honest Inspector's visit.... I took the 7K hit

It is why I have regretfully not agreed to sign up the rolling 12 month CS Agreement that was offered.

 

[Shropshire Farmer]

Feel for you having had a similiar "argument" with RPA after a less that honest Inspector's visit.... I took the 7K hit

It is why I have regretfully not agreed to sign up the rolling 12 month CS Agreement that was offered.

Currently arguing over £47k with them.

 

[Rookie]

Currently arguing over £47k with them.

And they wonder why there are mental health issues in agriculture !
Just seems so one sided that the government bodies can make lots of mistakes and give no apologies or have a penalty issued. They find one mistake on farm whether proven or not, and want to take you to the cleaners !

 

[steveR]

Currently arguing over £47k with them.

Fahk!!!

Are you using an Agent?

 

[steveR]

And they wonder why there are mental health issues in agriculture !
Just seems so one sided that the government bodies can make lots of mistakes and give no apologies or have a penalty issued. They find one mistake on farm whether proven or not, and want to take you to the cleaners !

And make it it nigh on impossible (in my case) to argue with them as the information and evidence the Inspector was supposed to have obtained to prove my error, was no longer available...

 

[Shropshire Farmer]

Fahk!!!

Are you using an Agent?

Oh yes. The crux of it is they are saying some margins don’t exist. And they remapped fields in 2018, that are in whole field options. Essentially trying to claim back the difference between new mapped areas retrospectively prior to remapping.
They paid 2018 as normal then basically have added another £6k to the penalty. I’m expecting them to do the same for 2019 and 2020. I expect the penalties to add upto £58k. If they agree with my evidence when they finally look at it I think I will get 90% back.

 

[Hesston4860s]

I’ve made the decision to sell up and move on, there’s no end anywhere in sight for my appeal (ongoing since 2017 I think it’s, been along time anyway). The damage to my business was done in 2016 after 2 years of no payment and I can’t be bothered anymore battling on more.

 

[Hesston4860s]

Ive just looked it up, it was the last week of July 2017 when I lodged my appeal. So what’s that 3.5 years ish and still nowhere nr an out come !.
Must be some kind of a record surely !.

 

[B'o'B]

I’ve made the decision to sell up and move on, there’s no end anywhere in sight for my appeal (ongoing since 2017 I think it’s, been along time anyway). The damage to my business was done in 2016 after 2 years of no payment and I can’t be bothered anymore battling on more.

That‘s not an easy decision to make, that is far far too long to be left hanging. I hope you and your family can put the whole sorry affair behind you, and that you can now move forward.
Best wishes for your future B’o’B

 

[ajcc]

@Hesston4860s I respect your decision to walk away....but it means all files can be shredded and they remain unaccountable.
There are individual farming families suffering major injustice at the hands of DEFRA on a daily basis. Is not Neil Parish MP and his efra government committee somewhat failing short by not addressing these issues?

 

[gorgous]

Really sad to hear you have had to make such a hard decision. Hope whatever you turn to next works out better for you.

 

[Hesston4860s]

@Hesston4860s I respect your decision to walk away....but it means all files can be shredded and they remain unaccountable.
There are individual farming families suffering major injustice at the hands of DEFRA on a daily basis. Is not Neil Parish MP and his efra government committee somewhat failing short by not addressing these issues?

What else can you do when the money runs out, we all know last year wasn’t great in general but it was a bad harvest for me as well I lost money !. I mean the RPA are playing with me, I have a screenshot in my possession from 4 may 2020. It shows my 2017/18 and 19 claims all at “preparing for payment”, I have further screenshots of my entitlements for those years showing they have been used !. I also have a CRF that shows all my land as eligible, it also shows as eligible on the BPS system upto 2019 !.
Everything is now blank again !, how can they be allowed to get away with playing with peoples lives like this ?. I mean 3.5 years come on and it’ll be at least another year !.

 

[Hesston4860s]

Really sad to hear you have had to make such a hard decision. Hope whatever you turn to next works out better for you.

It wasn’t that hard I just walked away, I just don’t care anymore. And as for what happens next well I don’t care about that either !.
But thanks anyway.

 

[gorgous]

View attachment 940576

The Farming Forum is encouraging farmers and those living and working in agriculture worldwide to start putting their mental health first. The Farming Forum is supporting the fourth annual Mind Your Head campaign (15-19 February) organised by farming charity the Farm Safety Foundation. The campaign is aimed at raising awareness of an issue that few in the industry want to talk about but that affects one in four people in the world at some point in their lives.

According to recent research carried out by the Farm Safety Foundation. 88% of farmers under 40 now rate poor mental health as the biggest hidden problem faced by farmers (an increase from 81% in 2018). The UK-wide survey of 450 young farmers also revealed that 89% believe that talking about the issue will remove the stigma attached to it.

Chris Fellows from The Farming Forum said:

“In the past year, the main support thread on The Farming Forum has received over 140,000 views and grown by over 2000 comments, more than any previous year. Mental health is an issue that we are hearing more about now, especially after the challenges of 2020 and the coronavirus pandemic. The Farming Forum is backing Mind Your Head as Brexit, the weather , the virus and a myriad of other factors are causing levels of stress and anxiety in the industry to rise. There is no better time to focus attention on the physical and mental wellbeing of our industry. With many of the face-to-face support networks for farmers
being closed as a result of lockdown, we need to stay connected with others. We need to take notice of those in the farming community, whether family or friends, who may be struggling with their mental health and make an effort to learn more about the issue so we can offer the right support. ”

For more information on ‘Mind Your Head’ visit www.yellowwellies.org or follow @yellowwelliesUK on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

If you would like to help other farmers or need support yourself, you can read this thread:

Dealing with depression - suicidal thoughts - Join the conversation (including helpline details)

Is there enough done to give support to people in that state of mind? Even to council people after a person does commit suicide? I know some people never ask for help and it's kinda hard to find out if someone thinks like that. But with farming it is very stressful and well it's a bigger strain...

thefarmingforum.co.uk

or access support numbers here:

Support Contact Numbers

Is there enough done to give support to people in that state of mind? Even to council people after a person does commit suicide? I know some people never ask for help and it's kinda hard to find out if someone thinks like that. But with farming it is very stressful and well it's a bigger strain...

thefarmingforum.co.uk

It's alright to say you've not alright.

Dont know how to write this without offending you which is not what I am trying to do but it Sounds like you could do with some support lots of helpfull people to speak to above.

 

[Shropshire Farmer]

It wasn’t that hard I just walked away, I just don’t care anymore. And as for what happens next well I don’t care about that either !.
But thanks anyway.

Sorry to hear that they’ve driven you to this !!!

 

[Shropshire Farmer]

Well my final appeal has come back and they won’t budge. They haven’t even acknowledged the evidence submitted for margins they have said don’t exist. Next step is IAAP hearing.