We are inviting agents to register so they can help their clients get ready to claim rural payments in 2015.
If you’re an agent (you’ll know if you are), read on…
(If you’re not we’ll have more news early in the New Year)
For some farmers there’s lots to do before they can claim rural payments online in 2015 – and we know many choose to use an agent to help.
Over the next few weeks, both firms and individual agents who are already registered with the Rural Payments Agency will be invited to create an account for the new online service.
Click on the link in the email that the RPA will send you and follow the instructions on the screen to ‘verify your identity’. You can do this online or over the phone, details are on the screen on how to do this.
Now you’re logged in to Rural Payments.
You will be prompted to check that all your personal and business details are correct. If you have more than one business, check them all.
If you’re an agency, you’ll want to associate all of your agents with your firm, so that farmers can browse the agency catalogue on the service and find the agents they work with in your firm. Ask your agents to create their accounts and provide you with their 10-digit customer reference number, which they will receive as part of the process.
Then add them in one at a time, as employees of your agency, to build up your firm.
And that’s all there is to it – now you’re registered and when your clients create their accounts, they will be able to give you or your agents the permissions needed to act on their behalf.
You can then return to www.gov.uk/ruralpayments to access your account again, and find the business or businesses that you’re clients have now empowered you to represent.
We will contact you to let you know when you can start providing us with the information needed to make claims. This will be in the New Year.
Not an agent? You can still register and confirm your details. You won’t be able to do too much else just yet, but we will let you know when you can start providing information about your business which will form part of your application. If you use an agent or want to, then you can give them permission to act on your behalf and take care of everything for you. And you can start getting used to the new service - let us know what you think.
We’ll keep everyone up-to-date here on this blog, and you can also follow @ruralpay on Twitter.
If you’d like more information, call the Rural Payments helpline on 03000 200 301 (Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm, except Bank holidays) or post a comment here.
18 comments
Comment by Vincent Hedley Lewis posted on
I am not an agent but you say above I can register and confirm my details. How do I do this?
Birkholme Farms
Comment by emilyball posted on
As we say above, if you are not an agent, you can still register and confirm your details. You won’t be able to do too much else just yet. Follow the link mentioned above http://www.gov.uk/ruralpayments.
Comment by Charles Kemp posted on
I judge that you should get farmers to register for Verify now. My discussion with others that those who have been invited to trial it have found it difficult and have encountered myriad problems. So I recommend you ask us to get on with it now so all the problems can be surfaced early and hopefully resolved.
Comment by emilyball posted on
Hi there, if you are an agent, we advise that you follow the instructions in the above post and as you say “get on” so you can help your clients register.
If you are not an agent, you can still register and confirm your details. You won’t be able to do too much else just yet.
We recognise that not all customers will be able to use GOV.UK Verify currently. You can also call the Rural Payments Agency on 03000 200 301 to create an account. This takes about 20 minutes, lines are open Monday to Friday (not bank holidays), 8:30am to 5pm.
Comment by Jackie Sartin posted on
I am a partner in a business . There are three of us do we all need to verify our id or is it just the person submitting the forms?
Comment by emilyball posted on
Hello. Anyone who wants to use the Rural Payments service to amend business and land details or apply for CAP schemes will need to register; so it is up to you if you all wish to register to have access.
Comment by Lizzy NO posted on
I am registered as an agent and have just helped one of my clients register. Went on to appoint me as agent on their business and the options were not really that good as if I were to be able to submit a claim I have to receive all the claim correspondence. Does this mean I am going to receive 50 odd copies of any booklets etc. as I think my postman will do his nut if I do!
Comment by emilyball posted on
Hi, Rural Payments is a digital service and notifications and guidance are online - so you won't be receiving multiple copies of paper booklets. You can also search and archive notifications on the service as you receive them.
Comment by celiahare posted on
trying to register on line but got stuck as I don't have a photo driving licence.this strikes me as absurd!
Comment by A Gilks posted on
Well I used Experian for verification and they gave an option of using my passport. Registration tedious but straightforward. 4 security questions and a memorable name! Plus send a text message with a code every time you log on. All seems a bit over the top.
Was a waste of time as the RPA site logged me in but none of the links were working so could not check any of my details. Guess they will work one day.
Comment by Alice Hammond posted on
The service is currently unavailable as we are making updates to it but you can try again tomorrow morning. We'll also keep this blog updated on when the service is available.
Comment by Val Evans posted on
I have registered our business and I am trying to check the land parcels but I get an error message each time I try to confirm the land use. Am I doing something wrong or is this not available yet.
I cannot find any "help" links or instructions as to how to do this.
Comment by Alice Hammond posted on
Hello. We are working hard to fix this issue and will provide updates on this blog. Sorry for any inconvenience.
Comment by Val Evans posted on
The system is working better now but I am still having problems updating our land use. The system will not accept a use of Permanent Pasture - what should I be entering? Some is in ELS and HLS and some is not in any stewardship schemes.
Comment by Caroline posted on
Hello
Please look for ‘Permanent Grassland’ on the list.
Comment by David Collins posted on
I am an Environmental Consultant, not a Land Agent. I shall be applying for Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier on behalf of my Client, but not handling the subsequent claims. Can I register for the application only?
Comment by Alice Hammond posted on
Hello, you can currently only begin a claim for the Basic Payment Scheme on the Rural Payments service. Keep following this blog for updates on the service in the coming months.
Comment by P Halksworth posted on
Have spent best part of my evening trying to register for BPS scheme, followed links to all 3 companies in turn to verify my ID.
I first used Experian for verification and they gave an option of using my passport only. Registration tedious and time consuming, 4 security questions and a memorable name! Plus a text message with a code all to no avail, as in the end the site can only work if you have both a passport and photo drivers licence.
I then tried with both the post office and Dididentity and went through the process of registering on websites, receiving emails and text messages, confirming codes, with the result that neither site can confirm my ID. I can only assume that as a Partner in a partnership I am harder to ID. Will have to now contact the Rural Payments Agency on 03000 200 301 to create my account.