13.—(1) There shall be 13 payment periods at regular intervals in the financial year.
(2) Subject to paragraph (3), reimbursement payments equating to 90% of the amount estimated by the Scottish Ministers to be due to the operator in respect of the relevant payment period shall be paid by the Scottish Ministers on the first working day of that period.
(3) Reimbursement payments under paragraph (2) shall not be paid until an operator submits to the Scottish Ministers the information required by paragraphs (1) and (2) of article 11.
(4) The balance of each reimbursement payment shall be paid by the Scottish Ministers, subject to any adjustments shown to be necessary based on the information required by article 11 submitted by the operator for the relevant payment period, not later than 3 months after the end of that period.
(5) Supplementary reimbursement payments shall be paid by the Scottish Ministers where–
(a)the Scottish Ministers have not made balancing reimbursement payments within 3 months of the end of the relevant payment period, provided that the operator submitted the original claim within 4 weeks of the end of the relevant payment period; and
(b)the Scottish Ministers have not informed the operator that they are disputing the claim.
(6) If the amount of any reimbursement payment made in accordance with paragraph (2) in respect of any payment period exceeds the total amount of that payment found to be payable in respect of that period, the Scottish Ministers may deduct the amount of the excess from the reimbursement payments due to that operator in respect of any subsequent payment period.
(7) Where an operator fails to supply the information required under article 11, the reimbursement payments due in respect of that and future periods may be withheld, in whole or in part, until the information required has been made available and verified.
(8) Any claims for reimbursement made by operators more than 3 years after the end of the relevant payment period will not be considered for reimbursement.
(9) Any person duly authorised by the Scottish Ministers shall have a right of access to an operator’s records, relevant to the calculation of reimbursement payments, without prior notification for the purpose of validating claims for reimbursement.