TheRural Payments Agencyis grappling
with a "legacy of data problems" that will impact its ability to
process farmer's claims for funding under theSingle Payment Schemeinto next
year.
The RPA's annual report reveals that it will take the agency
until 2008 to stabilise its IT and business systems, and that
problems may continue until "deep-rooted underlying issues" are
resolved.
The Single Payment Scheme was set up in 2005 to consolidate 11
EU subsidies, but problems with the agency's IT systems have left
farmers millions of pounds out of pocket.
Writing in the Rural Payments Agency's annual report, chief
executive Tony Cooper, acknowledges that problems with Single
Payment Scheme resulted in a "turbulent year."
"Our customers have the right to expect a consistent level of
service from the Rural Payments Agency. We did not achieve this in
the first year of the Single Payment Scheme," he said.
The agency was forced to make additional payments of £63m, after
it failed to meet the EC payments deadline, the report reveals. The
agency also paid out £986,782 in interest payments to farmers for
late payment.
Despite successful attempts to attempts to reduce the backlog of
payments "a significant residue of corrective activity will be
carried over into the 2007 scheme."
"We have not yet achieved stability in our IT systems or
business processes. This represents a significant challenge for the
Agency," said Cooper in the report.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has
agreed to provide £21.9m in extra funds for IT and business support
to tackle the problems.
The Rural Payments Agency has hired substantial numbers of
contractors and temporary staff to deal with the problem, but it
has had to battle with issues including staff knowledge, training
and familiarity with agency systems, the report reveals.