Single Payment Scheme 2010

An update

As you read this many of you will have received this years SPS and will be wondering - what next?

I thought that, although it is not strictly speaking legal, a summary of all the current issues around the SPS, its future and what impact that it might have on your clients might be useful. 

The latest press release from the RPA indicated that some 90% of the total funds have been distributed and that 7500 remain to be processed. Some of those were affected by the revisiting of the moorland line whilst others were subjected to remote sensing in 2009 (many farmers in Warwickshire suffered from this). Slowly these are being processed and I am aware that payments are being made. Legally the RPA has until 30^th June to make these payments.

2009 also saw the remapping exercise that is partway through. Why did RPA do this? There is a legal requirement that all paying agencies use the most current GIS (Geographic Information System) information available. Since the Rural Land Register was first installed there has been further general mapping work done and the RPA is obliged to use this. It is appreciated that this is no comfort to those who have just agreed their old maps and are having to undertake the same exercise again but it does at least explain why!

Unfortunately because the remapping has not been completed as quickly as would have been hoped, this is going to have an impact on the 2010 claim form.

There are a number of points to note:

• The closing date for this year alone, 2010, is 17^th May because 15^th is a Sunday.
• The last date for receipt by the RPA of an RLE/1 is 4^th April but because this is Easter you need to make sure that it is received before then
• The SP5 contains contact details
• There is a new column C4 that shows the total eligible area of a parcel
• You can use the SP5 to add or remove parcels from your holding without the need of a RLE/1.
• There is no 2003 land use code
• Some land use codes have changed (i.e. around permanent crops).
• Entitlements have to be used ever other year or else they will be lost. The use of the SP11 is likely to be more widely used. Make sure that you are activating entitlements in the correct order so as to.
• There is a minimum claim size of 1ha.  

By far the biggest issue is going to be around the pre-population of field numbers and sizes. Because of how the remapping exercise has been conducted there is a real risk that the pre-population will be incomplete or inaccurate. It is therefore essential that it is thoroughly checked.

The premise was that if the RMU 1 was submitted within 28 days of receipt the amendments should have been captured but if the RMU 1 was after that date then the amendments will probably not have been captured.

If the RMU 1 amendments have not been captured (or it has not been sent in) then the SP5 needs to be corrected and a copy of the RMU 1 and a covering letter submitted with the SP5.                

You will be aware, either from bitter experience or third hand, that the RPA have become stricter on its implementation of the cross-compliance regime. The starting point for any breach is a 3% penalty. Up until now the most common breaches have been around animal identification and the associated paperwork. What is now becoming apparent is that many farmers are not completing their Soil Protection Reviews. This is a simple (if not tedious) document to complete and failure to complete it is one of the easiest cross-compliance breaches to avoid. When speaking to clients, remind them of this.

A future article will address the issues facing the CAP in general and SPS in particular post 2012; in the meantime with 2010 – Good Luck!