OREANDA-NEWS. The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has confirmed it is on track to start making full Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments in December and more than half of the claimants in England are set to receive their payment before the end of that month.

The Financial Discipline Mechanism (FDM) deduction rate has been confirmed at 1.393041% by the European Commission. The RPA will now use this rate to calculate 2015 BPS payments by applying it to all claims over €2,000. This will be used to create a reserve fund to support the farming industry in times of crisis, such as disease outbreak.

The RPA understands the importance of prompt payments. The BPS payment window runs from December 2015 to June 2016 and following on from payments made in December, the RPA will make the vast majority of payments by the end of January.

Once the RPA has made a payment, it will send a remittance advice which will show the payment amount. After the remittance advice, and from mid-January, a claim statement will be sent to show how they’ve worked out the payment.

The RPA will issue BPS payments via BACS transfer and applicants are reminded that if their bank details have changed they need to call the Rural Services helpline on 03000 200 301 to provide new details.

Farmers who have applied for BPS 2015 but have not yet registered on the Rural Payments system are advised to contact the Rural Services helpline on 03000 200 301 as soon as possible. The RPA will be unable to make payments to applicants who are not registered.