The European Union has paid Britain only about a third of the compensation it requested for the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak, according to a report by the country's public finance watchdog.
European Commission report
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, said the European Commission concluded that the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs had overvalued the slaughtered cattle by two or three times the Commission's own assessment.
"As a result the Commission has agreed to reimburse some 350 million pounds, approximately one-third of the Department's initial claim for 960 million pounds," the report said.
More than 6 million animals were culled during the outbreak, which devastated the country's livestock industry and cost the economy an estimated 8 billion pounds.
The National Audit Office is independent of the government and its head certifies the accounts of all government departments and other public sector bodies.
Sir John said a new compensation scheme was under consideration, including proposals to share the cost of any future outbreak with the farming industry. "The 2001 outbreak of foot and mouth disease was devastating, not only for many farmers, but also for the wider rural community," he said. "Continued vigilance is therefore essential."