After many requests, the Rural Payments Agency has finally agreed to contact all outstanding claimants for 2005 Single Farm Payment.

RPA staff will be telephoning all those who have yet to be paid in the next two weeks, to discuss what is happening with the claim and to hopefully finalise payment.

Angus Collingwood-Cameron, CLA North East regional director, said: "We have been having high level meetings with RPA officials on a regular basis for the past 12 months. The issue of personal contact has often been discussed.

"The RPA has finally agreed to contact those who have not been paid to discuss the situation. If anybody is not contacted in the next two weeks, I would like to know, so that we can hold the RPA to account at our next meeting. I can only hope that this heralds the beginning of the end of the sorry tale of the 2005 scheme. That would allow us, and the RPA, to concentrate our efforts on accelerating the payment of the 2006 scheme."

According to Defra secretary David Miliband, the RPA will start making a 50% partial payment to 2006 SPS claimants in the middle of February and the RPA estimates that the initial process will take around three weeks.

Richard Brown, of Hexham & Northern Rural, said: "With a number of farmers still awaiting their 2005 Single Farm Payment (SFP) or Hill Farm Allowance (HFA) only a cautious welcome can be given to the RPA's commitment to pay 96% of valid 2006 claims by June 30, 2007."

According to Mr Brown, while farmers can initially expect to receive 2006 Entitlement Statements early in the New Year, due to an inadequate computer system at the RPA, statements will not show any entitlements which may have been transferred in or out since the 2005 allocation.