The payments have been made to 95.3 per cent of farmers in the first few days of the payment window and means that £872 million has been released into the rural economy to build on the earlier payments that farmers received in July and August.
The latest round of payments brings the total paid to farmers to £1.528 billion, across the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), Countryside Stewardship (CS). and Environmental Stewardship (ES) schemes that support farmers to achieve certain standards and deliver environmental outcomes in a range of habitats. Eligible farmers should expect to receive their payment within the payment window that opened on 1 December and ends on 30 June 2023.
As announced in May 2022, customers claiming Direct Payments have received two separate payments this year, with the first made from the end of July 2022 and completed by August 2022.
This was in response to the cost pressures faced by farmers caused by global gas prices rising and to boost cash flow for many businesses during this uncertain period.
RPA chief executive, Paul Caldwell, said this has been a year of unprecedented challenges for our farmers and rural businesses.
“We know how important these payments are to farmers and the wider economy, so will continue to work hard to process any remaining claims as quickly as possible,” he said.
The RPA recently published a blog on BPS 2022 payments to remind farmers about the changes to payments from this year: Basic Payment Scheme: December 2022 Payments — Rural payments (blog.gov.uk).
