WIREDGOV

The Parliamentary Ombudsman, Ann Abraham, has upheld complaints  from nine farmers about the Government’s handling of a subsidy scheme which  caused them to miss out on payments they were entitled to.

The farmers complained to the Ombudsman about the  administration of the Single Payment Scheme (SPS) in 2005 and 2006 by the  Rural Payments Agency (RPA), part of the Department for Environment, Food and  Rural Affairs (Defra), The SPS is the latest generation of the EU schemes  intended, among other policy aims, to give farmers direct income support. In a  new report presented to Parliament and published recently (30 November 2011), the  Ombudsman sets out the findings of her investigation into the farmers’  complaints.

The farmers complained about RPA’s handling of their claims  to the SPS on a number of counts, including that they provided poor quality and  sometimes ambiguous guidance on how to make a claim; failed to return  applicants’ telephone calls when this had been promised; misdirected applicants  about the status of their cases; delayed letting applicants know that they  would not be paid; and did not explain their decisions properly. RPA also  failed to consider the effects their errors and omissions had on the farmers  when they came to complain.

In one case, a farmer misunderstood the new form and only  claimed a subsidy for the year 2005. She did not activate her claim and  subsequently did not receive a payment. No one questioned her mistake, even though RPA knew this was a common error  by farmers. Losing a payment of over £13,000 left the farmer unable  to pay all her bills and reliant on her partner’s goodwill. She found out her  mistake almost a year after submitting her claim, when she asked what had  happened to her payment.

Another farmer also misunderstood the new form and guidance  and did not activate his claim. He was then led to believe by the RPA that he  would be paid, which was not the case. He and his wife found the confusion and  uncertainty of their circumstances particularly stressful. The farmer had to  increase his overdraft, sell land and take on extra part time work in order to  meet the financial shortfall.

As a result of the Ombudsman’s  investigation the farmers will each receive a written apology from the  Permanent Secretary of Defra and compensation of £500 for the inconvenience,  distress and frustration that they experienced.   They will also receive individual payments to put right the financial  impact of RPA’s failures. In addition, the Ombudsman has also asked RPA to provide  an action plan setting out the changes they have made to prevent other farmers  experiencing the same problems in future.

Ann Abraham said:

‘Amid the confusion of a new system, these nine farmers made innocent  mistakes in their claims for financial support. The farmers realised their  mistakes only when their payments did not arrive at all, or fell far short of  the amounts expected. By then it was too late for the farmers either to correct  their mistakes or to plan ahead for having thousands of pounds less money than  expected.

This is the second time I have investigated problems suffered by  farmers as a result of the poor administration of this scheme. In December 2009  I reported the results of my first investigation to Parliament because RPA had  failed to accept my findings and to implement my recommendations to put things  right for the farmers concerned. It took the intervention of the Public  Administration Select Committee before RPA would take action to remedy the  injustice I identified at that time.

Although my new report tells a similar story  of poor administration, the response from RPA and Defra has been a very different  one this time, and I am pleased that my recommendations have been accepted in  full.’

 Notes to Editors

Parliamentary Ombudsman criticises Defra’s administration of farmers’ subsidy scheme