Complaints procedure

If you are unhappy with a decision or service from the Rural Payments Agency (RPA), there are several ways you can complain.

RPA is committed to giving good customer service. We welcome your feedback to help us improve our services.

If you’re unhappy with a decision or service from RPA, in most cases you should follow our 3-step complaints procedure, in the following order.

  1. Query
  2. Complaint
  3. Appeal

Not all steps apply to the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), delinked payments or the Lump Sum Exit Scheme.

Step 1 - Query

You need to raise a query using the relevant scheme query forms.

You’ll need to tell us:

  • your full name, address, and telephone number
  • details of what happened and when
  • how your business was affected
  • who you dealt with at RPA
  • how you’d like us to settle this matter
  • any reference(s) you may have, for example, your single business identifier, county parish holding number, trader, vendor, claim or agreement number, or a project reference

The relevant team from RPA will review your query and contact you.

Raising a query using the Rural Payments service

You can use the Rural Payments service to raise a query about:

  • Basic Payment Scheme (BPS)
  • Delinked Payments
  • Lump Sum Exit Scheme
  • Countryside Stewardship (CS)
  • Environmental Stewardship (ES)
  • Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI)

Sign in to the Rural Payments service.

Or you can sign in using the link on the RPA page on GOV.UK and click ‘Sign in to the Rural Payments service’.

Select ‘Create or view a query’ to raise a new query.

If you’re not registered or are unable to use the Rural Payments service, you can download the relevant scheme query forms on this page.

Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) pilot

For queries about the SFI pilot, you can contact us using the SFI pilot query form

Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI)

For queries about SFI, you can contact us using the SFI query form

Countryside Stewardship (CS) and Environmental Stewardship (ES)

For queries about a CS application, agreement or claim, use the CS query form.

For queries about an ES agreement or claim, use the ES query form.

Basic Payment Scheme (BPS)

For queries about a BPS payment you’ve received or a confirmation that you’re not due any payment, use the BPS: payment query form.

From 1 January 2024, new 60-day statutory deadlines apply for farmers to query or appeal against decisions relating to their BPS payments.

The new 60-day deadlines are measured from the ‘date of notification’, which is the date we email or write to you giving notification of a payment decision, as explained below.

For any BPS payment decisions notified to you before 1 January 2024 but not queried with RPA before that date, the 60-day payment query period was from 1 January 2024 until midnight on 29 February 2024.

For BPS payment decisions made and notified to you on or after 1 January 2024, the 60-day payment query period begins on the date RPA email or write to you giving notification of the payment decision. If you are unhappy with the decision we’ve made about your payment query, you have a further 60 days from the date we advise you of our decision relating to that payment query to submit your appeal.

Where, before 1 January 2024, you raised a payment query and submitted an appeal against a BPS payment decision made before  that date, we will continue to consider that appeal under the pre-existing rules.

The ‘date of notification’ can be the date we send you:

  • a payment remittance
  • a payment adjustment
  • a response to a payment query, when we received the original payment query within 60 days of sending your payment remittance.

The new 60-day statutory deadlines apply to BPS for all years of the scheme and to the young farmer payment and greening payment. These deadlines also apply to any other BPS related decisions including those concerning cross compliance and the BPS data shown on the Delinked Payment Information Statements.

Delinked Payments

You can go straight to step 3 and submit an appeal if you disagree with a decision we have made about transferring a reference amount to or from your business, or when applying the rules on inheritance. You can also appeal if you think we have made an error when applying progressive reductions to your delinked payment or when deducting the value of a previous payment instalment.

If you disagree with the BPS payment data used to calculate your delinked payments reference amount, see the Basic Payment Scheme section.

Lump Sum Exit Scheme

If you disagree with a decision we have made in relation to your Lump Sum Exit Scheme application, you can submit an appeal. Go straight to step 3.

Grant funding schemes

You can contact us by email if your query is about:

British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS)

Email bcmsenquiries@rpa.gov.uk

Telephone 0345 050 1234

Welsh language telephone 0345 050 3456

Write to:

BCMS
Rural Payments Agency
Curwen Road
Workington
CA14 2DD

Trader schemes

Email trader@rpa.gov.uk

Telephone 020 776 43836

Write to:

Rural Payments Agency
Lancaster House
Hampshire Court
Newcastle Business Park
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE4 7YH

Step 2 - Formal complaint

If you’re unhappy with our response to your initial query at Step 1, you can raise a formal complaint for any of the schemes mentioned above, apart from BPS, delinked payments and Lump Sum Exit Scheme. For those schemes you should skip this step and go straight to step 3 – Appeal.

How to make a formal complaint

For complaints about any of the schemes, we would encourage you to use the Complaint form (CA4) (PDF, 904 KB, 4 pages). If you need more space, use the Continuation sheet (CA6) (PDF, 146 KB, 1 page). Send the form and extra sheets back to us using the contact details in the notes area on the form.

If you have received a decision to your query by email and want to raise a formal complaint, you can reply directly to the email.

If you employed an agent to assist you in the submission of your complaint and incurred additional costs, these can be reimbursed if the complaint outcome is in your favour.

If you wish to claim these costs, please submit itemised invoices annotated as ‘Paid’ with your complaint submission. These will need to clearly show that what you are claiming relates specifically to your complaint submission and are not part of the regular work you employ an agent to undertake.

Please note that we do not reimburse any legal costs.

What happens when you make a formal complaint

We’ll call you. If a call is not possible, we’ll write or email instead.

We’ll investigate your complaint and we’ll try to settle it quickly. If that is not possible, you’ll be told why and we’ll set up a timetable for settling the complaint.

For complaints about the conduct of a person, a full investigation by the appropriate senior manager will take place.

Step 3 - Appeal

If you’re not satisfied with the response to your complaint (or, in the case of BPS, the decision relating to your payment query at step 1) , you can appeal. You can also appeal about a decision we have made about your delinked payments or your Lump Sum Exit Scheme application, as explained in step 1. There are 2 routes to follow depending on whether your complaint is about the service you’ve received or if you’re challenging a decision.

If it’s about our service

You can ask your MP to raise your case with the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. You must do this within 12 months of your initial complaint. They would only investigate a case after this deadline in special circumstances.

If it’s about a decision

You can appeal against a decision if you think that RPA:

  • made a mistake based on a factual error
  • made a processing error
  • got the law wrong

The Appeals team must receive your completed form within 60 days of the date you were advised of the decision you are appealing against.

If your appeal is about BPS and we notified you of our decision at step 1 before 1 January 2024, we must have received your appeal by 29 February 2024. For all other BPS appeals, we must receive your appeal within 60 days of the date we notified you of our decision at step 1.

How to appeal

For any appeal against an RPA decision, fill in the Appeals form (CA1) (PDF, 220 KB, 6 pages). If you need more space, you can use the Continuation sheet (CA6) (PDF, 146 KB, 1 page).

If you employed an agent to assist you in the submission of your appeal and incurred additional costs, these can be reimbursed if the appeal outcome is in your favour.

If you wish to claim these costs, please submit itemised invoices annotated as ‘Paid’ with your CA1 form. These will need to clearly show that what you are claiming relates specifically to your appeal submission and are not part of the regular work you employ an agent to undertake.

Please note that we do not reimburse any legal costs.

Cost of appeals

If your appeal is about BPS, you’ll have to pay:

  • £100 towards the appeal panel costs if the amount of the dispute is less than £2,000
  • £250 if it’s between £2,000 and £10,000
  • £450 if it’s more than £10,000

If your appeal is about a Trader Scheme, you’ll have to pay £100 towards the appeal panel costs.

If your appeal is successful, appeal fees will be refunded.

There is no charge if your appeal is about:

  • SFI pilot
  • SFI
  • CS
  • ES
  • Rural Development scheme
  • Farming Equipment and Technology Fund
  • Farming Transformation Fund
  • Delinked Payments
  • Lump Sum Exit Scheme

Send your completed Appeals form (CA1) by email or post.

Email: reviewappealsteam1@rpa.gov.uk.

Write to:

Rural Payments Agency
Sterling House
Dix's Field
Exeter
EX1 1QA

Once we’ve received your appeal and checked that it meets requirements, the Appeals team will acknowledge your appeal and request the appropriate fee (if applicable).

The Appeals team will review your case and will be in touch if more information is required.

If the RPA decision stands, the Appeals team will refer your appeal to the Independent Agricultural Appeals Panel.

They will hold a hearing where you may present your case before the Appeals panel make a recommendation to the minister. The minister’s decision is final.

If your appeal is successful, appeal fees will be refunded.

If you disagree with the minister’s decision, you can take your own legal advice to challenge the decision through the courts (a judicial review).

When to contact RPA

If you’re unable to use the Rural Payments service or have a problem with downloading the relevant forms, you can contact RPA by email, phone or post.

Email: ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk

Telephone: 0300 020 0301

Write to:

For CS or ES queries:
Rural Payments Agency
PO Box 324
Worksop
S95 1DF

For all other schemes:
Rural Payments Agency
PO Box 352
Worksop
S80 9FG

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