RPA blunder as wrong SPS forms are sent out

The Rural Payments Agency began sending the forms out last Thursday (March 11). Due to an error at the printing and packing house, 500 farmers received the correct covering letter but somebody else’s pre-populated application form.

Defra said the RPA immediately stopped posting application forms on discovering the error and put in place additional checks to prevent the error re-occurring. The agency is now contacting claimants who received the wrong application forms and whose details were mistakenly sent out.

Mr Fitzpatrick said: “We realise this may cause concerns for farmers whose details were sent in error and would like to apologise on behalf of Defra and the RPA.” 

But he assured farmers the application forms did not contain any financial or bank account details. They contained business information such as: names, addresses and contact details, information relating to field parcels, currency of payment and SBI/CPH number, he said.

While the error is being blamed on the printers, it comes as yet another embarrassment to the agency, which has been heavily criticised for its handling of the Single Payment Scheme over the past few years.

The agency came under fire last year when it emerged that some of its back tapes potentially containing farmers’ personal data were lost.

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