We’ve updated some of our working practices due to coronavirus (COVID-19)

We’re committed to maintaining vital services for our customers, but have to make changes to adapt to the current emergency situation.

In line with government COVID-19 guidance, we have closed the majority of our offices and most of our staff are now working from home.

To make sure you follow the government advice on social distancing, please do not visit, hand in or post any correspondence or supporting documents to our offices. To make sure your documents get to us follow the advice at What you need to do and only send something if it’s urgent and it cannot be emailed. We will continue to keep you up to date about any changes.

Latest news

Check this page regularly for updates on what contingency arrangements we’re making to support our customers.

What you need to do

To help us to support you, please use our online and email options where you can. It’s the quickest and safest way to contact us.

When you email us make sure you include the name of the scheme the email is about and a brief description in the subject title. For example, ‘Countryside Stewardship, Mid Tier query’. This will help your email get to the right department quickly.

Remember, we can only accept emails from email addresses that are registered in the Rural Payments service.

It’s important (especially in these challenging times) that we have your most up-to-date personal and business contact details.

We may need to contact you by email or telephone so check your details in the Rural Payments service and update or register if necessary. Also, please make sure your permission levels for CS and BPS are set and are correct. You can find more information about how to do this in our blog.

Use the following addresses for anything urgent you cannot email to us

Countryside Stewardship customers

Rural Payments Agency
PO Box 324
Worksop
S95 1DF

Basic Payment Scheme customers

Rural Payments Agency
PO Box 352
Worksop
S80 9FG

Environmental Stewardship (ES) customers

You can find details of address on the environmental stewardship page.

BCMS customers

Rural Payments Agency
British Cattle Movement Service
Curwen Road
Workington
Cumbria
CA14 2DD

Important information about farm visits and inspections

We have paused farm visits (including inspections) for three weeks and are considering our approach to future visits in line with developing national public health guidance.

What happens next

We’re continuing to monitor and review our processes based on government advice and will update our customers if things change.

You can sign-up to get email alerts when information changes on the Rural Payments Agency pages.

You can also follow us on:

Be aware of fraud

We will not call you or send you emails or texts asking you to confirm your personal details or payment information.

Never discuss your bank account details with someone you do not know
We will not ask you to make a payment over the phone
Delete any emails or texts you do not believe are genuine
Do not open any links unless from our main email addresses:
- ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk
- rpa@notifications.service.gov.uk
- ruralpayments@rpa.emails.com
- rdpenetwork@defra.gov.uk
Be cautious about what information you share externally, particularly on social media

If you suspect an attempted fraud or feel you have been the subject of fraud, you can contact:

RPA’s Fraud Referral Team on 0800 347 347 or FraudInConfidence@rpa.gov.uk
Action Fraud (the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cyber-crime) on 0300 123 2040

2nd April -11.30 – The latest from the RPA.

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