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The deadline for the 2017 round of BPS applications has now passed. Though late BPS applications can still be made until midnight on 9 June 2017, they will be subject to a 1% penalty for each working day the application is late. For new entitlements applications, the penalty rate will be 3% for each working day.
As 15 May has now passed, it is no longer possible to:
• Transfer entitlements for use in the BPS 2017 scheme year
• Transfer land parcels online using the Rural Payments Service (The RPA can still accept RLE1 forms for land changes for BPS 2017, as long as the land was at your disposal on 15 May).
The process for transferring entitlements or land parcels online for the BPS 2018 scheme year will be confirmed in due course.
The RPA is currently working on post-payment amendments for the 2015 and 2016 scheme years. If it discovers that you are due an additional payment it will make a top-up payment and send a revised claim statement to explain the difference. It is worth looking at 2015 and 2016 claim statements carefully and, if you feel that a mistake has been made, ensure that you submit a BPS payment query form to the RPA.
If you have submitted mapping changes via an RLE1 form it would be wise to login to the online system and check if these changes have been made, an exclamation mark icon will appear next to the field parcel if there are changes yet to be made.
The scheme in its current form is guaranteed up to 2019. It is unknown what will follow in 2020 as the UK will have to develop its own agricultural policy. It is expected that there will be no sudden changes but that overtime payments will develop more of an environmental focus.
