Rural Payments service: updates to the service
Read about updates made to the Rural Payments service.
Applies to England
Register on the Rural Payments service and check any downtime.
25 February 2022 - reminder of reconfirmation of person and business records
Annual reconfirmation of person record details
Your Rural Payments account will show a message asking you to check if your personal contact information is still correct.
There is an option to choose ‘yes’ and an option to update your details. This will only show if you have not signed into the service and made any changes to your personal details in the previous 365 days.
Annual reconfirmation of business record details
Rural Payments business records will show a message asking you to check if your business contact information is still correct.
There will be an option to choose ‘yes’ and an option to update the details. This will only show if someone from the business has not signed into the service and made any changes to the business details in the previous 365 days.
Customer notifications to agents
If a bespoke notification is sent to an agent, who has responsibility for more than 1 business, the agent will only receive 1 notification for up to 100 clients. For example, if up to 100 clients were due to receive the notification, the agent would get 1 notification, and if 150 were due to receive the notification then the agent would get 2.
SBIs and business names will be listed in the notification so that agents can easily identify which clients the notification is related to.
9 June 2021
How to send us a query using the Rural Payments Service
From the 9 June, you can send your queries or requests to us using the new query form available in the Rural Payments service.
Complete the required boxes on the form to confirm your details and use the dropdown menus where provided. A free text box is also available to give a description of your query or request which you can then send to us directly.
You can only ask questions about a business that you are linked to and have the correct permissions for. If you do not have the right access or permissions, the options for your question will not appear on the form.
Using the query form means your communication with us will be kept in one place for easy access and reference.
How to complete the query form
- log into the Rural Payments service
- go to the ‘your businesses and messages’ page
- click the link to ‘create or view a query’
- select the business you want to talk to us about from the dropdown list
- select the relevant scheme from the ‘Choose the option your query is about’ dropdown list
- select the relevant option from the ‘Choose the subject you want to ask us about’ dropdown list
- complete all fields on the form including the free text box if necessary
- once you have provided all relevant information, click ’send’.
What happens after you’ve submitted your form
You receive a query reference number when your query has been successfully submitted.
Your query will also appear in the ‘sent queries’ page where you can also find the reference number and any related information you sent us.
When we reply to your query, our response will be sent to your ‘query inbox’ in Rural Payments. If you do not read our reply, we will email a reminder that you have unread messages.
You can still email ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk or call us on 03000 200 301.
Complaints and appeals
This option does not replace our complaints and appeals route. This process is still available and should be the preferred method if you want to challenge a decision we have made or raise a complaint.
3 June 2021
RLE1 messages in the Rural Payments Service
From 3 June, to confirm we have made the changes requested on RLE1 forms, you will receive a message in the Rural Payments service. This replaces the confirmation emails we used to send.
You will receive one message for all the changes requested on your RLE1 form.
We will still contact you by email, letter or phone if there are any queries with your RLE1 form.
How to check for messages
Log into the Rural Payments service and click the ‘All messages’ tab on the ‘Your businesses and messages’ screen.
Unread messages
If you do not open and read a message, we will email you after 7 days to let you know that you have unread messages in the Rural Payments service.
Contact us
If you have any questions or need to speak to us about your RLE1 form, you can email ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk or call us on 03000 200 301.
8 October 2020
Check your personal email address in the Rural Payments service is correct and unique
In the Rural Payments service, on ‘your businesses and messages page’, you’ll see a reminder to check we have your correct email address registered in your personal details. If your email address is not unique to you, you may need to change it. This is to make sure that personal email addresses registered in the Rural Payments service are only used by one person. This does not affect registered business email addresses.
Why this change is important
Currently, a small number of personal email addresses in the Rural Payments service are used by more than one person. This makes it difficult to identity the person emailing us and it can lead to delays. In some cases we may have to reject the email if we cannot determine who sent it.
Having unique personal email addresses in the Rural Payments service will make sure we can easily identify who is contacting us by email and will allow us to respond quicker. This will also allow us to continue to meet General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements.
What you need to do
If you have your own personal email address, check we hold the correct details on your personal record in the Rural Payments service. You can use any personal email address that is not already validated as a personal email address against an existing customer record.
- Log into the Rural Payments service
- On the ‘businesses and messages page’ click the link to ‘view amend your personal details’
- Check the email address we hold for you is correct and click ‘submit changes’. If it’s wrong, click ‘amend your details’, then click ‘submit changes’
- Follow the steps on the screen to check you have received our email with a validation link
- Click the validation link in the email we send you, within 12 hours of receiving it, to confirm your email address is correct.
We only use your personal email address to contact you where you have the relevant business and scheme permissions. For more information about permissions read Rural Payments service: registering and updating your details.
If you have registered a personal email address which is also registered by others as their personal email address in the Rural Payments service:
- agree with the others who will be using the current registered personal email address and who will need to create and register a new email address
- you can create a new email account with a provider of your choice, if you need to. You can then use this email address on your personal and/or business records in the Rural Payments service.
If you need a new email address of your own and are unable to create an account, call us on 03000 200 301.
When you have validated or changed your personal email address your record will be updated immediately. Also, you will no longer see the reminder message when you log into the Rural Payments service.
Contact by email only
For Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and Countryside Stewardship (CS) customers, you’ll see a new button on the personal details screen. This will allow you to request that we don’t send any correspondence to your personal address by post (except for legal and financial correspondence). You can switch off this option, if required.
Improvements to how we display Rural Payments service notifications
If you have access to more than one business, you will now be able to view your Rural Payments notifications separated by business instead of grouped together in one list. On the ‘Your businesses and messages’ page you will see the number of read and unread messages you have next to each business.
8 July 2020
Land data: download or link to your land data
Use Defra Data Services to download or link to your land data in the Rural Payments service.
You can use this data in your farm or mapping software. It includes data about your land parcel boundaries, land cover (not land use) and hedges.
Do this from the Rural Payments service, go to ‘View land’ and then the ‘Land summary’ screen and use the link below the map on the screen. Or, go direct to Defra Data Services.
Business overview screen has changed
We’ve changed the layout of the Business overview screen to make it easier to use. You can now choose what you want to do directly from this screen. Sign in to the Rural Payments service to see the changes.
Bespoke messages
We can now send messages to groups of customers, for example, to remind them to submit an application. You can view these by checking your messages in the ‘Your businesses and messages’ screen.
Contact RPA
Email ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk
Helpline 03000 200 301
Updates to this page
Last updated 25 February 2022 + show all updates
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25 February 2022 - reminder of reconfirmation of person and business records
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Added update about customer query form on Rural Payments to latest news.
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Edited updates to show new update from 3 June about RLE1 messages in the Rural Payments service.
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Published information for updates released in the Rural Payments service on 24 February.
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Update for January 2021 published, supporting Countryside Stewardship applications.
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Update to Latest News: updates to Rural Payments service - check the personal email address in the customer personal record is correct and unique
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Link added to Rural Payments service: registering and updating your details
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First published.