Proposals to remove 15-minute Delay Repay

[island]

The government is looking to remove 15 minute Delay Repay as part of GB Rail transition. A retrograde step in my opinion. Delay Repay 15 is in use by the majority of TOCs and provides a better incentive to keep journeys to time.

If there is a concern about the administrative burden of handling small payments, a minimum claim amount could be introduced as in the EU, where many providers will only pay out if the claim is €4 or above.

I also don't buy the suggestion that auto delay repay is the answer, as it doesn't work well with flexible tickets.

Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, is looking at standardising the terms of "delay repay" schemes, as train operators are gradually nationalised. Sources told The Times the move would be presented as a way of simplifying the existing system by creating a single refunds policy. However, they added it would probably lead to less generous financial redress being offered on some routes.
...
Government insiders said they were looking at "levelling down" compensation on some routes in line with the terms for LNER passengers. The move could be combined with fulfilling Labour's pre-election pledge of providing compensation automatically. Under the current system commuters have to apply manually, often filling in lengthy forms, and providing tickets and other evidence. Many do not bother as a result. Those with knowledge of the discussions said taking both steps could effectively make the changes "revenue neutral", meaning there would be no cost to the exchequer.

(I typed in this quote from an article on page 10 of the print edition of today's Times. The article was not available online as of the time of posting.)

 

[31160]

Well perhaps they could keep it if the same applies to buses and air transport, until then it's just unfair. Hopefully it gets binned off and save us all a fortune

 

[The exile]

Going to be a very “courageous” decision but I would support it if coupled with a removal of short term changes to timetables (which for me means anything less than about two months) not counting as delay or cancellation.

 

[LAX54]

Well perhaps they could keep it if the same applies to buses and air transport, until then it's just unfair. Hopefully it gets binned off and save us all a fortune

Indeed, a bus can be 30 mins late, and it's tough luck, airlines, 2 hours late tough luck, and also if it does meet the delay threshold, they will have a get out so they dont have to pay !
Scrapping 15 min D&R will not have any effect on delays, or on time trains

 

[furnessvale]

With railways returning to state control it is inevitable that the various benefits of privatisation are removed as the government begins to realise their cost.

 

[FrontSideBus]

So they won't loose so much money and they can also claim to be doing a good job by saying the number of delay repay payments has dropped.

 

[Wallsendmag]

The government is looking to remove 15 minute Delay Repay as part of GB Rail transition. A retrograde step in my opinion. Delay Repay 15 is in use by the majority of TOCs and provides a better incentive to keep journeys to time.

If there is a concern about the administrative burden of handling small payments, a minimum claim amount could be introduced as in the EU, where many providers will only pay out if the claim is €4 or above.

I also don't buy the suggestion that auto delay repay is the answer, as it doesn't work well with flexible tickets.



(I typed in this quote from an article on page 10 of the print edition of today's Times. The article was not available online as of the time of posting.)

Move to all smart ticketing with gate and onboard scanning and auto delay repay will work fine.

 

[Tom]

Move to all smart ticketing with gate and onboard scanning and auto delay repay will work fine.

I don’t think that’s going to be revenue neutral (or positive) on DOO routes…

 

[OscarH]

onboard scanning

Got a plan to make the scan levels even on non-DOO routes less of an absolute joke?

 

[Tram203]

Move to all smart ticketing with gate and onboard scanning and auto delay repay will work fine.

Run the trains on time and it would work even more fine..

 

[Wallsendmag]

Got a plan to make the scan levels even on non-DOO routes less of an absolute joke?

App based PAYG check in check out then.

 

[OneOfThe48]

With railways returning to state control it is inevitable that the various benefits of privatisation are removed as the government begins to realise their cost.

The Government already pays all of the Delay Repay costs of its operators whether they are nationalised already or soon to be - as indeed the Government pays for all the railway costs not met by fare revenue - so this is just the Government wanting to cut costs and subsidies.

 

[py_megapixel]

With railways returning to state control it is inevitable that the various benefits of privatisation are removed as the government begins to realise their cost.

I don't think it's really fair to paint 15 mins DR as a "benefit of privatisation". Wasn't it introduced by the DfT stipulating it in franchise tendering processes (rather than as an initiative of the private sector)?

 

[Whisky Papa]

I wouldn't be too worried to see the back of it, even though I'm currently trying to claim a Delay Repay from Northern for a 17 minute delay returning from Manchester Victoria to Todmorden last week with my wife. Normally I wouldn't bother, but I have applied on a few occasions where there were further annoyances involved, in this case the fact that the previous service to Leeds was cancelled leading to ours being extremely busy, although we did get a seat.The refund for us both on Senior Railcards is less than £2, so I'm basically just trying to make the point to Northern (my former employer) that we've not enjoyed the journey.

 

[AlterEgo]

I don't think it's really fair to paint 15 mins DR as a "benefit of privatisation". Wasn't it introduced by the DfT stipulating it in franchise tendering processes (rather than as an initiative of the private sector)?

It was. DR has always been political.

Now, we see the real anti-passenger agenda. A real idiot's idea, this - of course, instead of extending DR15 they plan to make things worse for most rail passengers. The idea it would be revenue neutral is laughable, and automatic delay repay on flexible tickets is a pipe dream at this stage.

I'd be surprised if they implemented this, because it has the whiff of floating a very stinky idea (which will affect a vast portion of rail travellers) so they can pretend to "listen" and "compromise" and implement some other still-awful ideas. Seen it many times.

 

[318266]

Perhaps I am influenced from the Scottish perspective, but I fundamentally see no reason why what is in reality a fairly minor delay to one's journey should result in compensation, even if such compensation is a pittance.

The chances are, for most reasons of travel, you have about 15-30 mins of flexibility at the end regardless. It shouldn't be considered worthy of compensation that said flexibility has been lost. If you are planning to meet a friend in a coffee shop in the centre of Glasgow at 1pm, and you get the train arriving at 12:47, you shouldn't be particularly surprised, let alone compensated if you arrive 10 minutes late to the meet-up because the train broke down and you had to wait for the one behind.

Principally, you have paid the railway for the service of getting you from station A to station B, a service which has been fulfilled in a reasonable amount of time.

 

[Angmering1974]

so this is just the Government wanting to cut costs and subsidies.

Aye. IIRC reducing subsidies was even in the Labour manifesto if you read it carefully? It was definitely fairly obvious in the budget at least.

It's just a shame they continue to sound just like Tories with the "simplifying" and "standardising" excuses.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Feb 2026 ==

but I fundamentally see no reason why what is in reality a fairly minor delay to one's journey should result in compensation, even if such compensation is a pittance.

Some of us don't want a railway system where 10-29 minute delays are normalised. I see that normalisation regularly on LNER. To me it seems Delay Repay is a bit of a protection against that.

 

[40875704]

Well perhaps they could keep it if the same applies to buses and air transport, until then it's just unfair. Hopefully it gets binned off and save us all a fortune

I'm intrigued, how will it save "us all" a fortune?

 

[Angmering1974]

Agreed. And it's really good to keep a list of the unpleasant changes. It's easy to forget. They're mounting up aren't they!

 

[furnessvale]

The Government already pays all of the Delay Repay costs of its operators whether they are nationalised already or soon to be - as indeed the Government pays for all the railway costs not met by fare revenue - so this is just the Government wanting to cut costs and subsidies.

Exactly the point. Reducing costs and subsidies will give the government the opportunity to proclaim the wonders of state ownership.

 

[Howardh]

I've always thought a partial repay after 15 mins was a bit generous; maybe a higher % for 30 mins or more might be more appropriate? Love to know how many have been delayed between 15-30 mins on a short journey (eg works commute) but never claimed it? I've certainly not bothered many a time for something like 25% of half a fiver for a return journey when one part's delayed.

 

[Adam Williams]

App based PAYG check in check out then.

There is no security in anything that relies on data coming from an end user's device, which is what the GPS based schemes inevitably try to do.

 

[yorksrob]

I never bother with 15 minute delay repay myself as it's too much of a rigmarole without enough reward.

However, it is further degradation of value for money for passengers (such as the crooked fares trial on LNER) and I would be dead against it unless counterbalanced with a genuine long term improvement in passenger fares elsewhere - something like a national railcard available to all, for example.

 

[Howardh]

I never bother with 15 minute delay repay myself as it's too much of a rigmarole without enough reward.

However, it is further degradation of value for money for passengers (such as the crooked fares trial on LNER) and I would be dead against it unless counterbalanced with a genuine long term improvement in passenger fares elsewhere - something like a national railcard available to all, for example.

Agree, maybe for off-peak travel? Glad someone else rarely bothers with 15' delays, think my threshold is if the compensation is more than a fiver, any less and hardly worth the effort. Might be worth a thread in "Suggestions" about national railcards for everyone; certainly should be a thing under nationalisation.

There must be £m's of unclaimed compensation!

 

[yorksrob]

Agree, maybe for off-peak travel? Glad someone else rarely bothers with 15' delays, think my threshold is if the compensation is more than a fiver, any less and hardly worth the effort. Might be worth a thread in "Suggestions" about national railcards for everyone; certainly should be a thing under nationalisation.

There must be £m's of unclaimed compensation!

Generally around a tenner for me - or less if I want to make a point

 

[Howardh]

Generally around a tenner for me - or less if I want to make a point

I've had smaller amounts than £5 refunded on advance tickets where it's automatic; no issues with that as apart from ticking a box there's little effort in it!

 

[VT 390]

I personally always claim delay repay whatever the ticket cost or delay length and those 15-29 minute claims do add up to a decent amount over time.

If they do remove the 15-29 minute delay repay option I would like to see a slightly more generous amount paid for 30-59 minutes however I do see that is is unlikely to happen.
What would partially make up for the removal of 15-29 minute delay repay would be for all National Rail operators (or whatever they become under Great British Railways) to have the same conditions for delay repay under most operators current delay repay scheme for 30+ delays as some operators such as Merseyrail and Grant Central do not currently but it may be difficult to apply this to open access operators.

One other alternative that I would like to see explored would be to keep the 15-29 minute delay repay but only for more local operators/services. This would mean long distance services such as LNER, Avanti West Coast, EMR Intercity only providing delay repay after 30+ minutes but local services such as West Midlands Railway, Great Northern, Chiltern Railways (where journeys are mostly shorter) keeping the 15-29 minute delay repay. This to me seems like a way to reduce the number of claims on more expensive tickets while still providing the option for local journeys.
I find regular delays in the 15-29 category on routes I use a lot far more frustrating, if understandable, than a delay of equal length on a long distance journey. This is probably because a 15 minute delay on a journey time of less than an hour represents a far greater proportion of the journey than a 15 minute delay on a journey taking several hours.

I really hope they do NOT apply automatic delay repay more widely (or at least keep if OFF as default) as it has always been a greater inconvenience than benefit for me.
For example I once booked advanced tickets for 2 different services as it was still cheaper than the cheapest flexible option but as both services were cancelled both were auto delay repaid for the full amount each so money is wasted on claims like this (I did contact the operator involved and they did not care for me to repay them the extra ticket value).
Another time I booked split tickets separately through LNER (for LNER perks) and train split but LNER auto delay repaid for their part of the journey when I needed to claim for the whole journey which took months to resolve and get my full payment for both tickets.
Because of cases like this I now ensure auto delay repay is always turned off.

 

[Angmering1974]

There is no security in anything that relies on data coming from an end user's device, which is what the GPS based schemes inevitably try to do.

App developers can require eg Play Services and use Play Integrity etc to only run the app when the phone passes integrity. Plenty of tools and tricks available to gain trust in the location data and the device/OS in general

 

[yorksrob]

I personally always claim delay repay whatever the ticket cost or delay length and those 15-29 minute claims do add up to a decent amount over time.

If they do remove the 15-29 minute delay repay option I would like to see a slightly more generous amount paid for 30-59 minutes however I do see that is is unlikely to happen.
What would partially make up for the removal of 15-29 minute delay repay would be for all National Rail operators (or whatever they become under Great British Railways) to have the same conditions for delay repay under most operators current delay repay scheme for 30+ delays as some operators such as Merseyrail and Grant Central do not currently but it may be difficult to apply this to open access operators.

One other alternative that I would like to see explored would be to keep the 15-29 minute delay repay but only for more local operators/services. This would mean long distance services such as LNER, Avanti West Coast, EMR Intercity only providing delay repay after 30+ minutes but local services such as West Midlands Railway, Great Northern, Chiltern Railways (where journeys are mostly shorter) keeping the 15-29 minute delay repay. This to me seems like a way to reduce the number of claims on more expensive tickets while still providing the option for local journeys.
I find regular delays in the 15-29 category on routes I use a lot far more frustrating, if understandable, than a delay of equal length on a long distance journey. This is probably because a 15 minute delay on a journey time of less than an hour represents a far greater proportion of the journey than a 15 minute delay on a journey taking several hours.

I really hope they do NOT apply automatic delay repay more widely (or at least keep if OFF as default) as it has always been a greater inconvenience than benefit for me.
For example I once booked advanced tickets for 2 different services as it was still cheaper than the cheapest flexible option but as both services were cancelled both were auto delay repaid for the full amount each so money is wasted on claims like this (I did contact the operator involved and they did not care for me to repay them the extra ticket value).
Another time I booked split tickets separately through LNER (for LNER perks) and train split but LNER auto delay repaid for their part of the journey when I needed to claim for the whole journey which took months to resolve and get my full payment for both tickets.
Because of cases like this I now ensure auto delay repay is always turned off.

That's a good point.

I'd give up the 15 min delay repay if the longer delays were better compensated.

For example for delays of between an hour and two hours, I think you should get the full price of a return ticket - even if this is in the form of vouchers rather than money.

 

[Adam Williams]

App developers can require eg Play Services and use Play Integrity etc to only run the app when the phone passes integrity. Plenty of tools and tricks available to gain trust in the location data and the device/OS in general

I've implemented Play Integrity and Apple's App Attest. They are better than nothing at increasing the barrier to entry, but they are not remotely foolproof. Historically it was Magisk and devices without the ability to do hardware-backed attestation, nowadays there are plenty of compromised OEM keyboxes you can use to get a tampered-with Android device to pass device integrity. It will forever be a cat and mouse game.

If you think this is a good enough foundation to build an entire country's ticketing system's security on, I've got a bridge to sell you.

Back in the real world, we have an established system that works, has pretty good security characteristics and doesn't trust the device presenting the ticket - it's called a Ticket Validation Database.