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Main office

COLBURN
5 & 6 BAILEY COURT
COLBURN BUSINESS PARK
RICHMOND
NORTH YORKSHIRE
DL9 4QL

01748 897 630

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BARNARD CASTLE, BOROUGHBRIDGE & RICHMOND

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01748 829210

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Basic Payment Scheme – Update on Payments

Now that the 15th June 2015 BPS application deadline has passed, focus has turned to when payments will be made and what the payment values will be.

The RPA are currently manually inputting the paper BP5 forms, therefore should you be contacted by the RPA with a query it is important that this is answered promptly, this will help assist the RPA in validating claims in a timely manner as this affects payments.

The 2015 BPS payment window has opened and some farmers are now in receipt of payment. Under SPS many claimants had become accustomed to being paid on or shortly after this date and planned their cash flow on that basis. DEFRA’s Farming Minister, George Eustice has stated that the “vast majority” of payments should be made by the end of January 2016.

However claimants should be mindful of the implications on cash flow should their payment be delayed and plan for this now rather than leaving it until the last minute. The usual categories that might see a delay in payments are:

Probate cases • Cross border applicants • Claimants who have had inspections • Common land • Large and complex cases

The RPA should have started to write to claimants who are affected by a payment delay from the end of November 2015 onwards.

The RPA confirmed on 10th November the 2015 entitlement values and the greening payment rates:

BPS Entitlement Value
English Region € per entitlement £ per hectare Greening Payment Rate
Non SDA €171.83 £125.65 €76.19
SDA €170.60 £124.75 €75.64
Moorland €45.07 £32.95 €19.99

The exchange rate applied to the 2015 BPS entitlement values was set at €1 = £0.73129. The rate is set by taking the average of the European Central Bank exchange rate throughout September 2015. This is the lowest it has been since September 2007 when €1 = £0.69680 and is a drop of 5.9% compared with the 2014 exchange rate of €0.7773.

Young Farmer Payments – qualifying applicants will be paid at 25% of the BPS entitlement value up to a maximum of 90 hectares of entitlements.

National Reserve Applicants – these should have been contacted during November to confirm whether or not they have been successful.

The delay in processing forms, potential delays in payments and fluctuating commodity prices is also having an effect on entitlement trading. Entitlement traders are reporting a steady start to the trading window which historically started between September and October. It is envisaged that demand will increase once claimants are paid and have funds to purchase additional entitlements, if required. In addition, demand will depend upon the success of National Reserve applications.

It is important not to lose sight of your 2016 BPS claim and the Greening requirements. Your 2015/2016 cropping will be the basis of what is in the ground on 15th May 2016. There will be no mandatory online submissions for 2016. Paper forms will be made available in addition to the new online system. For further advice on BPS please contact:

[team-member name=”Lucinda Riddell”]

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