Wrong information on website caused farmer significant loss

What happened

Mr W, a dairy farmer, applied for an exemption to a European Union regulation that limited the amount of nitrates (which can be a source of pollution) in manure that is spread on land. He did this via Defra's website.

This was the second year Mr W had applied for the exemption, but this time (in 2011) Defra's information about the deadline for applications was wrong, and so he missed the deadline. Because of this, Mr W was not able to get the exemption he needed.

Mr W took immediate steps once he realised that without the exemption, he was breaking the law. He told us he had to either kill or sell a large amount of livestock and reduce the quality of feed to his cows.

He complained to Defra that his business had suffered significant losses because of its error and he was experiencing continued repercussions.

Defra considered his complaint and apologised for its mistake but told him that it would not pay him any compensation.

What we found

Defra had given an incorrect deadline on its website, which was an error. Also, Defra had not dealt properly with Mr W's complaint and had not completed its complaints process. This was because it had not considered that he may have suffered because of its error.

Defra decided to wait for a legal challenge from Mr W or for him to refer his complaint to us. Mr W suffered an injustice from this as Defra did not properly consider his case. It also meant he suffered a significant delay in getting a remedy from Defra.

Putting it right

Defra apologised to Mr W and paid him £500 for the poor handling of his complaint.

It agreed to consider the injustice to Mr W arising from its error, and to appoint an independent lawyer to review the complaint and make recommendations on how it can put things right.