Rail commuters may face cuts to ‘Delay Repay’ scheme
LONG-SUFFERING rail commuters could be hit by proposals to make “delay repay” compensation less generous, The Sunday Telegraph understands.
The Government has discussed raising the minimum delay threshold for repayments from 15 minutes to half an hour, according to sources.
Delay Repay is a nationwide scheme under which commuters can apply for compensation if they experience a delay in getting to their destination because of a cancelled or late-running service.
The amount of compensation depends on the company a passenger is travelling with, the ticket they have bought and the length of their delay.
Different companies have different criteria, with most operating a minimum threshold of 15 minutes. However, there have been discussions within Whitehall of increasing this to half an hour, Government sources indicated.
Senior rail industry sources confirmed that plans to increase the threshold have long been mooted.
But if ministers decided to press ahead with such a move, it would be hugely controversial at a time when passengers have been enduring miserable conditions, including strike action.
The latest official statistics show the lowest proportion of trains arriving within 15 minutes of their planned schedules since records began.
In the third quarter of 2022-23, train cancellations soared to a record level, with 4.5 per cent of services cancelled. Delay compensation claims in July- October increased by a third between 2018 and 2022, from 0.71 delay claims per planned train to 0.94.
The amount of money paid out by train companies has varied wildly in recent years as commuting patterns were upended by the pandemic.
Figures up to 2021-22 show compensation in England and Wales peaked at £89,407,000 in 2019-20, before collapsing in 2020-21 to £6,384,000, and then bouncing back to 39,707,000 in 2021-22.
Louise Haigh, the shadow transport secretary, criticised the Government over the proposals on Delay Repay.
“Shambolic services are failing passengers and instead of demanding better, the Conservatives want them to pay the price,” she said. “The message is clear – under the Conservatives, our failing rail services are here to stay.
“The next Labour government will put passengers back at the heart of our railways, and build the infrastructure fit for the century ahead.”
A reduction in the generosity of Delay Repay could be counterbalanced by changes to make it more straightforward for customers to submit claims.
Centralising the process so passengers have a single website and a “oneclick” process to make a claim are among the options under review.
The changes are being considered as part of wider reforms to rail fares to rationalise a sprawling system that has left Britain with 55 million ticket types.
A DfT spokesman said it did not comment on “speculation”.