The Farmers' Union of Wales today warned farmers to double check their Single Application Form (SAF) acknowledgment letters to make sure they do not lose out due to computer scanning errors or if any of the information is incorrect.
"Although the busy time of completing SAF forms came to an end on May 15, it is imperative that farmers look carefully at the acknowledgement letter they receive from their Welsh Government Divisional Office," said FUW’s Meirionnydd county executive officer Huw Jones.
"Farmers who have submitted their forms early will have already received their acknowledgement as receipts are usually sent within 10 days of submission.
"But those who have submitted their forms in the days running up to May 15 will not have received acknowledgements by now so it's vitally important that they make sure they get a receipt and when it is to hand that it is checked for accuracy.
"The receipt gives a summary of the claim, detailing the schemes claimed and a list of the fields, stocking numbers etc. The acknowledgement letter is also an opportunity to detect any scanning errors.
"Any missing data should be notified to the Divisional Office before June 10 to allow an amendment, although this could attract a late claim penalty.
"In past years a number of SAF scanning errors were discovered by FUW county executive offices across Wales and had they gone unnoticed members could have lost a significant amount of money. Thankfully, our staff and members spotted them by cross-checking against photocopies of original SAF forms.
"Every year the FUW deals with members who have been debited large amounts due to minor errors on extremely complicated forms and some end up losing sums that are equivalent to their entire annual incomes.
"Very few of those people get their money back due to the strict enforcement of EU rules relating to obvious errors and exceptional circumstances, and checking these statements and reporting errors is the one and only chance people get to prevent this happening."