Rural Payments and Services

For recent changes to this guidance, please check the bottom of the page

Table of Contents

• Complaints
• Appeals
• Recent changes
• Previous versions
• Download guidance

If you are unhappy with a decision we have made or the standard of service we have provided, you are able to either submit an appeal or make a complaint.

A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction with our standard of service, procedures, or processes that you feel requires a response or explanation from us. You or your representative can complain in person by phone, by email or in writing.

All complaints will be treated seriously by us and you will receive a full response.

There are two forms of complaint under this scheme. You can complain against the general standard of service, or the decision to either reject, or lower the percentage grant rate awarded to your application to the Food Processing Marketing and Co-operation Grant Scheme.

Standards of service

You can find out more in our complaints section.

Complaints

Complaint against the non-selection of project

If your project has not been selected to receive funding from the FPMC grant scheme and you feel this is the wrong decision, you can submit a complaint in writing to the address below:

Food Grants Team

The Scottish Government

Agriculture, Food and Rural Communities Directorate

B1 Spur
Saughton House
Broomhouse Drive
Edinburgh
EH11 3XD

Tel: 0300 244 9287
Email: FoodProcessingGrant_Enquiries@gov.scot

Fax: 0300 244 9990

If you feel we have failed to properly apply the scheme rules or regulations, your appeal will be reviewed by a qualified person who was in no way involved in the original handling of the application or processing of the case.

They will independently review whether to uphold or reject the complaint, seeking legal advice where necessary.

If you feel we have failed to properly assess your application (i.e. scoring incorrectly due to not taking appropriate account of all the information you supplied with your application), then the scoring and assessment of the application will be reviewed by a qualified person not involved in the original assessment decisions.

However, in so doing, the reviewing officer may only take account of the evidence originally supplied by you (or your agent).

If the reviewing officer upholds the complaint then the scoring and assessment will be revised and you (or your agent) will be informed of the revised position and whether your application has now been successful.

If the review does not uphold your complaint or the revised score is still not high enough to be successful in securing funding, you will be provided with constructive feedback on what you would need to do to strengthen your application should you wish to apply again in a future round.

Appeal against the refusal of payment, reduction of payment or recovery of payment/s

If you have been granted funding from the FPMC scheme, you can appeal against decisions we make regarding your claims and payments.

If we have written to tell you we have already – or soon will – refuse, reduce or recover your payment and you are not sure why we have made this decision, please contact the Food Grants Team at the address set out below.

After initial discussions, if you are still not satisfied with our decision, you may wish to ask us to formally review our decision under The Rural Payments (Appeals) (Scotland) Regulation 2015.To do this you must submit a written request to the Head of the Food Grants Team no later than 60 days (legal timescale) from the date of our original decision letter.

You can submit this request to the address below. Please do not send it to an RPID area office.

Food Grants Team
The Scottish Government
Agriculture, Food and Rural Communities Directorate
B1 Spur
Saughton House
Broomhouse Drive
Edinburgh

EH11 3XDTel: 0300 244 9287
Email: FoodProcessingGrant_Enquiries@gov.scot
Fax: 0300 244 9990

A senior member of the Food Grants Team will then arrange to meet with you – or phone you if you prefer – to formally review your appeal in more detail.

By law we must do this no later than 60 days from the date we receive your request for review and we will let you know the date of the review meeting in writing. Representations may be made by you or by a representative.

This conversation will give you the opportunity to explain to a senior member of staff why you think our decision is incorrect, provide additional evidence, ask any related questions and seek relevant clarification.

The member of the Food Grants Team will explain why the initial decision was taken, the relevant Scottish and European Commission legislation and, if relevant, why we applied a penalty.

The Food Grants Team will send you a written report of the review meeting within 60 days. The report will either confirm, amend or alter our original decision, or revoke it entirely and substitute a new decision.

If the review upholds the original decision and you wish to further pursue your case, you need to write to the Scottish Land Court at the address below, requesting an appeal under the above-mentioned regulations.

The Scottish Land Court
George House
126 George Street
Edinburgh
EH2 4HH

Tel: 0131 271 4360
Fax: 0131 271 4399
Email: SLCourtMailbox@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

The court will then make the necessary arrangements to hear your appeal.Your appeal to the Court needs to be made within 60 days of the day that you received the written report of the review meeting.

Find out more information on the Scottish Land Court.

Scottish Land Court

Previous versions of this guidance

Click 'Download this page' to create a printable version of this guidance you can save or print out.