A second progress update carried out by the National Audit Office on the administration of the single payment scheme has found scant regard for the protection of public money by the Rural Payments Agency, which administers the scheme in England.

The NAO report was damning: “The IT system does not meet the scheme’s needs, the cost of processing claims, already very high, has continued to increase and the administration of the scheme is not value for money,” NAO auditors found. The average cost per claim of £1,743 is 22 per cent higher than it was in 2005 and compares to just £285 under a simpler Scottish system.

Amyas Morse, head of the NAO said: “This is the third time we have looked at the single payment scheme and there are still significant issues to be resolved. There has been a serious lack of attention to the protection of taxpayers’ interests over the administration of the scheme. There has been a lack of senior management ownership of the scheme in the agency and DEFRA, even though the risks were previously highlighted by the committee of public accounts…DEFRA should urgently address the risks to ongoing IT system support and the inaccuracy of the scheme’s data, explore alternative payment systems and resolve the ongoing management issues.”