Following a damning report from the National Audit Office which was released in October, the government has ordered The Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) to draw up plans to scrap and replace its Rural Payment Agency's "fundamentally flawed" £350m IT system.
The department must also justify the £84m in payments made to consultants Accenture throughout the six-year lifespan of the system.
Officials have until the end of January to provide a detailed analysis of payments and what they have achieved.
Furious MPs on the Public Accounts Committee complained the department and agency failed to act on two earlier reports demanding improvements.
Cost per payment (per farmer) reached £1,700 - six times the cost per payment in Scotland.
The UK government has already had to pay £90m in a 'fine' to the EU for failing to meet payment targets.
The committee said costs are "unacceptably high" and demanded the production of a business case to see if a new system would provide better value for money.
Read Computing's analysis on the original report here
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