More than £95% of farmers have shared in £872m in grants from the Rural Payments Agency in the first few days of the latest payment window.
More than 102,000 payments have been made, bringing the total paid to farmers to £1.528bn, across various schemes supporting farmers to achieve certain standards and deliver environmental outcomes in a range of habitats.
As announced in May 2022, customers claiming Direct Payments have received two separate payments this year, with the first made from the end of July 2022 and completed by August 2022.
This was in response to the cost pressures faced by farmers caused by global gas prices rising and Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine, and to boost cash flow for many businesses during this uncertain period.
RPA Chief Executive Paul Caldwell said: “This has been a year of unprecedented challenges for our farmers and rural businesses, which is why the RPA has been working hard to make payments as quickly as possible – both in July and in the current payment window. We know how important these payments are to farmers and the wider economy, so will continue to work hard to process any remaining claims as quickly as possible.”
