Payment paperwork which needs to be dealt with promptly
Shropshire farmers could soon be receiving a letter from the Rural Payments Agency requesting paperwork to prove their eligibility to claim under the Basic Payment Scheme.
We are working with a number of clients to ensure they continue to receive their subsidies and this paperwork needs to be submitted to ensure a successful claim.
The RPA is tightening the rules on active farmer status and additional eligibility checks are being made on claimants who have less than 36 hectares of land but received more than 5,000 euros in 2016, and have also been inspected in 2017.
A subset of smaller farms in England will be required to supply an accountant’s certificate proving their eligibility.
The request for additional paperwork comes from the European Commission after an EU audit of the RPA.
Farmers affected by the checks will receive a letter from the RPA asking for the accountant’s certificate to be returned within 10 working days.
It is important that farmers are ready as a 2017 BPS claim will not be processed until this certificate has been returned – which may lead to payment delays.
We are urging farmers to deal with this sooner rather than later. Have your certificate ready when the letter arrives if you know you fall into this category because if you do not get your form back the payment will be put on hold.
The NFU has raised its concerns with the RPA arguing the exercise loaded extra costs and an additional burden on those claimants affected but currently the certificate still needs to be submitted - and it must be completed by a professionally qualified accountant, so it is not possible for a farmer to do it alone.
When claimants apply for BPS, they have to declare that they meet the “active farmer” rule, which includes whether they are carrying out any activities that fall into the “negative” list.
The negative list of non-agricultural activities is airports, railway services, water treatment works, real-estate services and permanent sport and recreational grounds.
Farmers who are claiming less than 5,000 euros automatically pass the active farmer test, as do those who claim more than 5,000 euros and are not running any of the non-agricultural activities listed.
However, claimants who are running any of the activities on the negative list are able to get “readmission” as an active farmer if they have 36ha or more of eligible land or if at least 40 per cent of their total receipts come from agricultural activity.
Alasdair Barne, Director, Madeleys.
