T he official exchange rate used to transfer payments from Euros to Sterling will be € 1 = £ 0.85228 , as set by the European Central Bank every 30 September . The European Central Bank ’ s exchange rate is the most positive for BPS payments since 2011 when € 1 was worth £ 0.86665 . BPS payments last year were based on an exchange rate of € 1 = £ 0.73129 . The value of the pound against the euro has been falling since the end of last year and plummeted after the UK ’ s vote to leave the EU on 23 June .
Therefore UK farmers being paid in Sterling will collect approximately £ 208.44 per ha of Non-SDA land claimed in 2016 contrasting to the £ 178.85 they received in 2015 . For SDA entitlements farmers will receive approximately £ 206.94 per ha in
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2016 different to £ 177.56 in 2015 , and for Moorland entitlements farmers will receive approximately £ 54.67 per ha in 2016 as opposed to £ 46.91 in 2015 .
Tim Sedgewick of H & H Land and Property comments : “ This will be welcome news for many farmers awaiting the BPS 2016 support payment later this year . Most found their BPS payments in 2015 well down on what they were expecting ; this was partly down to the lower exchange rate than 2014 . However , there were a number of claimants who had their payment affected by omissions and errors by the Rural Payments Agency . They struggled to grasp the new system imposed on them by the EU and it is vital that those mistakes aren ’ t repeated this year .”
In context , a farmer claiming on Non-SDA entitlements who received £ 20,000 in 2015 should receive in the region of £ 23,308 for the same size claim in 2016 when
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payments begin from the 1st December . The RPA have set a |
Tim Sedgewick
target to pay 90 % of claimants before the end of 2016 .
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