FARMERS in East Anglia are amongst 86,500 English farmers who have now received their Single Payment Scheme payments, leaving around a fifth of claims as yet unpaid.
FARMERS in East Anglia are amongst 86,500 English farmers who have now received their Single Payment Scheme payments, leaving around a fifth of claims as yet unpaid.
The Rural Payments Agency's performance was hailed as “a significant improvement” on last year, when payments were controversially slow.
It says it has now made full Single Payment Scheme payments amounting to �1.31billion in the payment window which opened on December 1.
This represents just over 70% of the estimated total fund value of �1.86 billion and 80% of the total estimated claimant number of 107,500 farmers.
Chief executive Tony Cooper said: “I'm delighted that we have been able to make these payments to farmers so quickly. We understand the importance of getting payment out into the industry and the agency will continue to focus on the remaining claims to make as many payments as quickly as possible.”
The figures, published yesterday, show a marked improvement on last year's, when around 21,000 farmers were paid just over �700million by 16 December 2008.
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