THE NFU has said farmers must not be penalised by problems with the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS).

Guy Smith, NFU vice president, said the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) and Defra must make the payments in December and ensure sufficient resources are in place to handle applications.

He said: "All of these delays following the IT melt-down means we are in danger of being a good two months behind the timetable on applications and that will undoubtedly put pressure on the ability of the RPA to make payments promptly on the December 1 start date.

“Our fundamental point is that farmers are not in any way to blame for the current problems and therefore it is wholly unacceptable that, as a result of these issues, farmers could be penalised with late payments."

He welcomed the fact that new BP5 forms will start to go out to farmers next week and that guidance on how to apply will go out via email initially with paper copies to follow in the post.

"But we remain concerned that this process needs to be completed asap to allow the industry as much time as possible to complete claim forms that are going to take longer to complete this year due to the demands of greening," he said.

“Farmers who have to fulfil greening requirements will be emailed pre-populated forms and information starting next Monday. It is not clear how long the RPA will need to email everyone in this category but the NFU will complain very loudly if members have not received forms by April 21."

It wants well-staffed, well-located, advice centres open at times convenient to farmers.

“We are also very concerned that the system has become a confusing combination of paper and e-mail," said Mr Smith.