DAERA defends plan to drop paper letters

DAERA has defended a plan for all communication relating to farm schemes to move to a digital messaging service.

In a statement, DAERA confirmed that the two-way messaging service “will be applied to new schemes going forward” and “paper letters will not be issued”.

“It is more convenient for customers. An email will be issued to alert applicants of a new message and a link to log in and view the message,” a department spokesperson said.

DAERA dismissed claims from the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) and Agricultural Consultants’ Association (ACANI) that the decision was made at short notice, with no consultation with farmer organisations.

“The implementation of secure DAERA messaging for area-based schemes communications has been discussed in considerable detail and on numerous occasions with representatives,” the spokesperson said.

The latest change is part of a long-running process of moving DAERA services on to digital platforms.

A public consultation on moving to online communications took place in 2016 and all single applications in NI have been submitted online since 2018.

The new digital messaging service, which is set to replace paper letters, has been operating since late 2022.

However, agricultural consultants are concerned that the change will cause significant disruption for around 6,000 farmers who currently use agents to submit scheme applications on their behalf.

According to Damian McCloskey from the ACANI, all farmers in NI will need to set up an online government gateway account to receive messages from DAERA through the new digital system.

He said farmers need to have an email address for a government gateway account and emails need to be checked regularly for new messages coming through on the DAERA system.

“We are not against digital, but the system has to work for all farmers. Many older farmers do not have email addresses. Even if they set one up or use a family member’s email, they are likely to miss messages from DAERA,” McCloskey said.

At present, agricultural consultants have an agent account for DAERA online services which allows them to submit applications on behalf of their clients, which means these farmers do not need individual government gateway accounts.

“The current system works quite well. Moving to a system where all farmers need their own accounts to communicate with DAERA will cause confusion and create a lot more work,” McCloskey said.