Foreword
Jump to
I am laying this report before Parliament, under section 10(4) of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967, to complete the story begun in December 2009 with Cold Comfort: the Administration of the 2005 Single Payment Scheme by the Rural Payments Agency. Cold Comfort looked at the problems suffered by some farmers when the Rural Payments Agency, part of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, failed to pay them financial support when expected.
It is significant that the last time I reported to Parliament on the actions of the Rural Payments Agency in Cold Comfort I needed to use my powers in section 10(3) of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967. This was because the Rural Payments Agency failed to accept all my findings and implement all my recommendations. In the case of Cold Comfort, only after the intervention of the Public Administration Select Committee did the Rural Payments Agency act to remedy the injustice set out in my report. Although More Cold Comfort tells a similar story of poor administration to Cold Comfort, the response of the Rural Payments Agency and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has been a very different one to that which my Office experienced previously. My Office will no doubt continue to receive complaints about the Rural Payments Agency, some of which are likely to concern the administration of the Single Payment Scheme. In light of our experience with More Cold Comfort, I am hopeful that any future complaints will be resolved more quickly and simply than has been the case in the past.
More Cold Comfort looks at the problems suffered by nine farmers who, amid the confusion of a new system, made innocent mistakes in their claims for financial support. The farmers realised their mistakes only when their payments did not arrive at all, or fell far short of the amounts expected. By then it was too late for the farmers either to correct their mistakes or to plan ahead for having thousands of pounds less money than expected. This money was European Union funding set up 'with a view to ensuring a fair standard of living for the agricultural community' (Recital 21 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003).
Our investigation looked at whether or not the problems suffered by the farmers resulted from the Rural Payments Agency's mishandling. I have upheld all nine complaints, finding that each of the farmers had suffered an injustice because of maladministration by the Rural Payments Agency. In total I have made fifteen recommendations, fourteen of these relate to the individual complainants featured in the report. My fifteenth recommendation is intended to address some of the systemic issues identified in the report. I am pleased that, in contrast to their response to Cold Comfort, the Rural Payments Agency have accepted my recommendations in full.
Ann Abraham
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
September 2011
