Farron: Farm Payments Must Be Made Immediately

Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron has called for the Rural Payments Agency to make outstanding payments as a matter of urgency, as significant numbers of South Lakes farmers are still waiting to receive overdue funds.

Tim has taken up the cases of a number of South Lakeland farmers who were due to receive payments in December but have still not received the payments, and has written to the Rural Payments Agency to demand action.

Although the Rural Payments Agency had previously said that they hoped to complete the "vast majority" of payments "by the end of January", there are currently still almost 20,000 farmers in England who have not received their Basic Payment Scheme payment yet. This is around 23% of the total.

Tim said: "Many local farmers have had an incredibly difficult time over the last few months due to the floods, and the last thing they need is for this money to be delayed. Farmers had expected this money to be coming in, and if the money is not there it makes it extremely difficult for them to be able to plan ahead. I have contacted the Rural Payments Agency to explain the situation and have called on them to make these payments as a matter of urgency."