BPS Update July 11, 2016 12:00 am 2016 Claims Update The RPA has confirmed that it has received 86,820 BPS 2016 claims. Of these, 69,905 (80.5%) were made via the Rural Payments online system with the remaining 16,915 (19.5%) via paper. There were 1,179 claims made between 17th May and the 10th June 2016. During this period, claims could still be submitted but they received a 1% penalty for each working day they were late. Claims are not accepted after 10th June. 2015 Payment Corrections Where claimants or their agents have raised a query with the RPA regarding an incorrect 2015 payment, the RPA should have been in contact by 13th July. If an e-mail or letter has not been received claimants/agents need to contact the RPA. The agency has said it will be focusing on the largest corrections first; the aim is to have all payments sorted by the end of September. How easy it will be for claimants or their agents to reconcile corrected payments remains to be seen as it doesn’t seem as though there will be much accompanying paperwork. A Claim Statement will be sent, but many will remember, these didn’t contain much detail the first time around. They will need checking carefully, along with the number of entitlements and use by year, these can be viewed on the online Rural Payments system. Hard copy BPS 2015 Entitlement Statements are expected to start to be issued from 1st August.
