One in five RPA staff quit every year

More than 2,600 people have resigned from the agency since 2001 with a further 162 having been dismissed, according to figures obtained by the Yorkshire Post.

The figures, revealed under the Freedom of Information Act, are further evidence of an Agency in turmoil, MPs have claimed.

Last month MPs on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) accused the Agency of paying ‘negligible attention to taxpayers’ interests and branded it ‘complacent’ on its handling on the Single Payment Scheme.

Edward Leigh, chairman of the PAC said the frustration of MPs was ‘nothing compared to that of farmers’.

Meanwhile a report by the National Audit Office’s (NAO) published in October concluded the agency had wasted £680 million of taxpayers’ money on fines and administrative bungles between 2005 and 2009.

The NAO report said £304m had been spent on hundreds of extra staff to cope with the miscalculation of payments and to manage a ‘poorly designed IT system’.

The Agency’s timing of payments has now improved but the NAO said the cost of the scheme was still ‘high and increasing’, averaging £1,743 per claim, compared with £285 per claim in Scotland.

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