Ulster Unionist Agriculture Spokesperson Jo-Anne Dobson has criticised CAFRE for demanding payment for the Level II Agriculture qualification required for the CAP Young Farmers’ Scheme by Monday 22 September. The Upper Bann MLA was speaking after being contacted by concerned young farmer who were annoyed that they were only given days to ensure the course fee was received on time.
The Upper Bann MLA said;
“On late Wednesday afternoon applicants for the Level II Agriculture qualification received an email requesting a payment of £68.30 to cover the cost of registration and certification with the course Awarding Body. I have no major issue with the fee; instead my concerns are on the totally unrealistic and unfair timeframe in which this fee has to be received. The email states that the fee must arrive at the Greenmount Campus by ‘4pm on Monday 22 September 2014’.
“The email goes on – ‘If you do not pay the course fee before this date, CAFRE may consider that you wish to withdraw your training course application’.
“CAFRE has given applicants only 3 working days to write a cheque or postal order and make sure it arrives at Greenmount. This is totally ridiculous. If people did not act on the email or letter immediately then many will be unable to meet the restrictive deadline. Given the payment needs to be posted, it also gives no consideration for any delays that may be encountered with Royal Mail.
“The Young Farmers Scheme will provide financial assistance to many farms across the country so I want to make sure as many young people as possible take up the opportunity. The level II qualification is vital for this, so emailing all the applicants on a Wednesday evening demanding a posted payment to be received the following Monday is just ridiculous.
“I am aware that there has been a large number of applications for this course, so I suspect that by introducing such a restrictive timeframe that the Department may unfairly be trying to cut people out from the process.
“I have asked the Agriculture Minister to detail why applicants were given such a short length of time, but also more pressingly to give a commitment that any fees received after the 4pm deadline will still be processed.”