We are urgently developing research requirements with other European laboratories to make sure we understand and the disease (Schmallenberg) better.SPS deadline fast approaching
WITH the May 17 Single Payment Scheme (SPS) application deadline just a week away, the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has issued advice to farmers in England. It includes clarification on outstanding mapping queries.
The deadlines
May 17 - applications after this date will be accepted but penalties will be applied.
June 1 - farmers can notify RPA of any amendments to land parcels or add new land parcels up until midnight this date without penalty.
June 11 – applications received after midnight on this date will be rejected.
Additional ways for farmers to complete and return their application:
- RPA’s electronic service SPS Online contains built in checks to help farmers avoid making common mistakes and provides an instant RPA receipt upon submission. www.rpa.gov.uk/spsonline
- Farmers can use RPA drop-in centres. Two new drop-in centres have been added in Wye and Truro. This year staff at the drop-in centres will be offering a fuller check than in previous years to ensure every line of the form contains the relevant codes and information. It’s important that farmers or agents who need to drop off five or more forms book an early appointment to ensure they can be seen.
- Appointments can be booked to see an RPA representative who can show farmers how to complete their form online - farmers can use computers provided by RPA if they don’t have the facilities to do so at home, or are nervous of doing so on their own.
Important points to note regarding Single Payment Application forms:
- Applicants should not copy pre-printed information into the blank boxes below each row of data. If the pre-printed information is incorrect or needs to be changed, applicants should write the correct information in the blank boxes.
- Forms must be signed.
- Care should be taken to send in the original form and not a photocopy.
- Some application forms have had pages removed from their SP5 or added pages from other forms. Claims like this cannot always be processed and may be rejected. If a farmer requires a new form, or requires continuation sheets, they are asked to contact RPA. They should ensure the form retains all pages - even ones they do not intend to use.
- Each land parcel the applicant wishes to claim SPS on must contain the correct pre-printed or handwritten information in Columns C2, C8 and C9.
- Where a farmer has an outstanding mapping query on a land parcel and estimates the entries in C2 (field reference number), C3 (total field size) and/or C4 (maximum SPS eligible area), RPA will amend to the correct area without penalty, and will not remove these lines of data from the farmer’s application.
Further information can be found at www.rpa.gov.uk/sps2010
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Readers' comments (14)
Anonymous | 11 May 2010 8:14 am
Isn't it great to see a government dept that cannot hit any deadlines, dictating deadlines for farmers. RPA management with all their resources can't hit deadlines, but the poor farmers have to.
Something seriously wrong about this.
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Anonymous | 11 May 2010 12:11 pm
Re: anonymous 11 May 2010 8.14 am
I say hear, hear.
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Anonymous | 11 May 2010 12:57 pm
Hear hear, I am still waiting for my 2009 payment and the final statement for 2008 which the RPA cannot get right!
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Linda Cayley | 11 May 2010 12:59 pm
Why have we got to permantly amalgamate fields that don't have a physical boundary separating them ? I just can not see the reasoning behind it - apart from providing farmers with more work because if we don't do it and get an inspection we will get penalised even though it makes no difference to the area claimed which is surely what they should be looking at!! And the maps anyway!! you would have thought they would have learn't that this was the main problem when they brought in SPS!! And farmers can not get it wrong but they can without even an appology let alone compensation!
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Anonymous | 11 May 2010 1:00 pm
Couldn't agree with the previous comment more. My first set of new maps arrived on Monday and suprise, suprise they are completely wrong! 13 attempts the RPA had last time to get them correct and then we started again. We only get one chance to get these forms right without penalty and we're not given the information we need. It's all a little bit like Westminster...... absolute Rubbish!
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Anonymous | 11 May 2010 1:11 pm
i got my maps back for the second time on friday the 7th may just in time to re do my SFP form , the covering letter was dated 26th april - i guess this is how the rpa manage to claim all maps were sent out by 1st May !! - simply fudge the date
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Anonymous | 11 May 2010 5:25 pm
They may claim to have sent out all maps, but ours are merely an 'interim' set of maps because they have not yet finished the re-mapping process. It is now an extra job to decide which maps are 'new' ones and which are just re-prints on old ones, on top of cross-checking them all against an inspection report
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Anonymous | 11 May 2010 11:18 pm
I handed my form in today at the local RPA building. It was around lunchtime and I was truely amazed by the number of scuffy looking individuals who work in that establishment. They looked like they worked on the farms rather than in the office. Each member of staff entered a "pod" and used their pass card to either access or leave the building. It looked like very expensive techology which would be more suited to MI5 headquarters. Ever wondered where your modulation money goes?
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Anonymous | 11 May 2010 11:42 pm
I feel so fortunate to be in Wales where the WAG officials do their best to get things right at the outset and one can phone or call in and actually make a difference if things need clarification or amendment... Common sense does seem to prevail there1
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R Floyd | 12 May 2010 11:16 am
I called at WEstbury on Trym drop in centre this morning with SP5 where the staff were very helpful and their review may have avoided a mix up with reading X I put in a different box to the prepopulated reply. RF
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