CLA In Call Over Payments
by Tim Barnes-Clay, LincsMag Writer.
Date: 16 June 2011
The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) has urged Defra Minister Jim Paice to set challenging targets for the payment of 2011 SPS (Single Farm payment Scheme) claims.
The region’s rural watchdog met with the minister at this week’s national Cereals 2011 show in Lincolnshire, to discuss the need to focus on achieving more timely payments for those claimants that continue to be paid late in the payment window each year.
CLA President, William Worsley, said: “I have been told that the Rural Payments Agency is in a healthier place than in other years. A good way to display this is to set testing targets for the payment of 2011 SPS claims. These targets must surpass the performance of preceding years if they are to have any credibility.”
CLA East Midlands director, Andrew Shirley, added: “With the 2009 Rural Land Registry remapping exercise and the growing number of farmers using SPS online, the CLA sees no reason why the agency can’t hand over correct payments for 2011 claims.”
