Farming charity raises concerns over reforms to welfare system

The Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI) said planned changes for benefit claimants will 'disadvantage' farmers who are finding it hard to cope with increasing feed costs and bad weather resulting in poor crops.

And Philippa Spackman of the RABI said she feared many more farming families would be living on or below the poverty line in 2013.

The proposed changes would see people of working age have their benefits capped to make sure a household without someone working and receiving benefits cannot get more than the average earnings of working households.

Concerns have been raised about the impact it will have on families relying on benefits. There are exceptions for service personnel, pensioners and disability benefits.

But Miss Spackman said the changes will also hit farmers hard.

She said: "We are concerned about the impact of the Government's reform of the welfare system. One of the first things our welfare officers do when meeting someone is to ensure they are receiving the state benefits to which they are entitled.

"But the method of calculating entitlement to the tax credits on which so many farming families depend is to change and we believe it will be to their disadvantage."

During 2012 the RABI helped farmers across the country claim state benefits worth in excess of £350,000.

They offer services including a scheme which pays for farmers to get their accounts and paperwork in order so they can claim state benefits.

They are also looking into setting up a scheme this year to help people make difficult decisions about farm viability.

"A Government report by the Commission for Rural Communities two years ago found that one-quarter of all farming families live on, or below, the official poverty line," Miss Spackman said.

"We fear that many more will fall into that group in 2013."

She said the charity is as much needed today as when it was founded in 1860 and said it will 'wait with interest to see what will happen' with the welfare reform bill.

The welfare reform was initially due to be in place by next month but has since been delayed and it will not be in place now until at least September.

Miss Spackman said: "Farming is a cutting-edge industry with a fantastic future, and the challenges involved in ensuring the industry can feed an expanding global population are as exciting as ever.

"But modern farmers work to very tight margins and not everyone can take advantage of the opportunities available," she added.