Grimshaw quits as Rural Payments Agency chief

Mr Grimshaw has decided to stand down after more than six years at the helm of the Agency which is responsible for administering support payments to farmers.

His shock departure comes just months after he told a watchdog committee of MPs that he remained the right man to lead the Agency. His vow came at the end of a turbulent first year of the revised EU Basic Payment subsidy scheme in which IT problems led to hardship for farmers who were subsequently made to wait months for their claims to be settled, and even then with differing degrees of accuracy.

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the Agency’s current Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) operational delivery director, Paul Caldwell, had taken over as the interim chief executive.

Environment Secretary, Andrea Leadsom said: “In the six months that I have worked with Mark I have been grateful for his clear commitment to resolving outstanding BPS issues. Both he and Paul Caldwell have worked hard to achieve a strong recovery from the challenges of the first year of this new system.

“The agency remains fully focussed on paying all remaining eligible claims as quickly as possible including those outstanding from 2015.”

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Clare Moriarty, Defra’s permanent secretary, added: “Mark Grimshaw has achieved a huge amount at the Rural Payments Agency and helped deliver substantial improvements in performance for the benefit of our farmers and rural communities.

“Under Mark’s leadership, the RPA has come through a significant transformation including the challenge of introducing the Rural Payments online service and the new Basic Payment Scheme.

“Paul will ensure that the focus continues to be on delivering remaining payments to all eligible claimants as soon as possible. The RPA has a very experienced leadership team in place who will continue to lead the Agency after Mark’s departure and provide continuity for everyone who uses the Agency’s services.”

In a statement, the outgoing chief Mr Grimshaw commented: “It has been a great privilege to have led the RPA and its exceptional people through some major changes.

“Together we created and delivered an ambitious Five Year plan, getting the Agency in the great shape it is today. After six years at the helm I have decided now is the time to stand down and hand over the reins to a new leader to take the organisation through the next phase of its development as part of the Defra Group.”

His replacement, Mr Caldwell, has held a number of senior positions within the RPA since 2001 including becoming operations director in 2010.

He was previously manager at the British Cattle Movement Service and occupied various roles within the former Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food - now Defra.

Mr Caldwell said: “I am proud to have the opportunity to lead the Agency and recognise how important our work is to support our world-leading food and farming industry.

“That is why our priority is to ensure that remaining BPS payments are made to all eligible farmers as soon as possible and that we continue to deliver the other 40-plus schemes and services we administer.”

The Tenant Farmers Association (TFA) said it was sorry to hear of Mr Grimshaw’s departure.

TFA chief executive George Dunn said “The RPA has come in for a considerable amount of criticism about the way in which it has handled the implementation of the Basic Payment Scheme. It has to be said that not all of this was of the RPA’s own making.

“Mark led the RPA to success with the previous Single Payment Scheme in its latter years and it was a major missed opportunity that the RPA, under Mark’s leadership, was not given the sole responsibility to put in place the necessary arrangements for the implementation of the successor scheme in 2015. Instead, responsibility was shared between Defra, the RPA and the Government Digital Service and total carnage in 2015 was only avoided when the RPA won the argument to abandon the digital only application route. We are still living with the consequences of that poor project management.”

Mr Dunn added: “Mark has always been a doughty force to be reckoned with but in all our engagement I found him to be open, honest and eager to improve the RPA’s performance. I am genuinely sorry that Mark will be standing down from the RPA at the end of February. However I wish Paul Caldwell every success as he takes on the role of interim chief executive whilst arrangements are put in place for a permanent replacement.”

Guy Smith, vice president of the National Farmers’ Union, has been a fierce critic of BPS delivery but he praised Mr Grimshaw for his time at the RPA.

Mr Smith said: “The chequered delivery of BPS payments over the last two years has not been an easy time for our members, NFU staff or the RPA. During that time we were always mindful that the RPA were not the architects of the IT meltdown in the spring of 2015 that lay at the root of the problems. This was due to mistakes and poor judgement made elsewhere.

“You could say that as RPA chief executive Mark Grimshaw had to receive the ultimate hospital pass. Given the gale he had to sail through, Mark has captained the RPA ship well to the point it now seems on an even keel. We are also mindful of the considerable improvement in SPS (Single Payment Scheme) delivery the RPA showed from 2010 to 2014 under his leadership.

“We wish him well in his retirement and look forward to working with his successor which will be Paul Caldwell in the interim.”

Grimshaw vows to deliver far better service for farm payments

Agency chief will have ‘feet held to the fire’ over farmers’ payments

RPA exceeds 90 per cent farm payments target

RPA pays 93 per cent of farmers ahead of schedule