Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Farm subsidy payment ‘hidden problem’

SUPPORT: Technicalities which may result in an area of land being excluded include ineligible land covers and crops.
SUPPORT: Technicalities which may result in an area of land being excluded include ineligible land covers and crops.

Thousands of farmers and crofters may be in the dark about a reduction in their farm subsidy payments, claims Galbraith.

The rural agency is urging all Scottish producers to check their Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments for the past few years to ensure they are correct.

The Scottish Government last night confirmed letters to producers outlining deductions to their payments had been delayed.

“Most people will check their payment when it comes in, and if it looks to be broadly what they were expecting they assume all is correct,” said Stewart Johnston from Galbraith’s office in Aberdeen.

“Only when they contacted the rural payments department subsequently did it become clear that a deduction had been applied.”

He added: “For one farmer this went all the way back to 2015 and they had never been made aware that 100 acres of land had been deemed ineligible for BPS due to a technicality for the whole of that time.

“It’s a hidden problem because the government is not informing farmers when part of their claim is judged invalid.”

Mr Johnston said some of the technicalities which may result in an area of land being excluded from BPS payments include ineligible land covers and crops or invalid seasonal let agreements.

He said farmers have 60 days from receipt of notification of any problem to submit an appeal, and the Scottish Government’s rural payments division should then reply within 60 days to accept or reject the appeal.

“In many cases the sums involved are not significant but for some farms it can make a difference to the viability of the business,” added Mr Johnston.

“We would advise farmers to check their payments carefully, especially if the amount is less than they expected.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We are currently working on providing information to those who had a deduction as quickly as possible.

“Unfortunately, work to correct this situation has been delayed twice because of Brexit and suspended due to coronavirus, but has since restarted, alongside our other vital work,” he added.

“Once letters advising of deductions have been issued, we will process any appeals as quickly as possible.

“No one that wishes to follow up with an appeal will be prevented from doing so as a result of the delay.”