Sorry, let me read that again

What happened

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) gave Mrs W, who was in her seventies, wrong information in the years 2010 to 2012 after she contacted it about making her first claim for a European Union farming subsidy called the Single Payment Scheme (SPS). Her SPS entitlements had expired. But an RPA data error meant the computer system labelled the entitlements as still valid and this was the wrong information that RPA officials kept giving Mrs W.

What we found

We partly upheld this complaint. RPA made serious mistakes in its contact with Mrs W. When she contacted it in autumn 2010, its inaccurate and incomplete information misled her into believing that it had received a 2010 SPS claim in her name. Next, its data error added a false extra year to her SPS entitlements. This error misled RPA, Mrs W and her new representative into believing she could claim SPS for 2011. RPA started giving Mrs W and her representative accurate information only in early 2012.

If RPA had acted correctly, it would have told Mrs W when she called it in autumn 2010 that it had received no SPS claim in her name and that her SPS entitlements had expired. Mrs W and her husband could at least have considered buying more entitlements in time to claim SPS for 2011 and later years.

Instead, the incorrect information from RPA led Mrs W to make a wasted application for SPS in 2011 and to incur avoidable professional fees. But we found no link between RPA's mistakes and either Mrs W's lost opportunity to claim SPS for 2010 or the wasted effort of her 2012 SPS application.

Putting it right

RPA had already paid Mrs W £100 to apologise for the incorrect information it gave her. It made a further apology and consolatory payment of £250 and also agreed to pay a sum towards the professional fees she incurred because of its wrong information.