Rural Payments Agency Change Programme
From SR
Purpose
The creation of the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) in 2001 aimed to improve the system for paying subsidies to farmers in England under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and reduce cost overheads through the integration of IT, finance, HR and inspectorate functions.
Difficulties
The change programme was beset with difficulties, which were exacerbated by radical CAP reforms in 2003 and the subsequent need to include the new Single Payment Scheme (SPS).
Policy issues and time constraints moved the programme away from its original focus on benefits and the cumulative effect of a number of systemic problems meant that what was being delivered diverged significantly from the original vision. The system failed to meet the timetable for delivering the bulk of £1.5bn worth of payments to its 116,000 customer base by March 2006, which necessitated the introduction of partial payment of claims, with final reconciliation of cases continuing beyond June 2006. A likely consequence, still to be quantified, is a ‘disallowance’ by the European Community of part of the overall payments. (Disallowance is effectively a fine and would be imposed on Defra.)
