GovWire

The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) published its proposals to improve access to delay compensation through a new licence condition, code of practice and 3rd-party intermediary code.

This work develops its 2016 response to a Which? super-complaint, where it first quantified the compensation gap. In 2019 the ORR published recommendations to the Williams Review, setting out further recommendations that could help to close the compensation gap including a commitment to consult on a licence condition in this area.

ORRs proposals for this delay compensation code of practice are designed to tackle the key barriers: awareness and ease of process. It also set requirements on monitoring, reporting and continual improvement.

Lastly, the proposal includes provisions for the involvement of 3rd-party intermediary firms (TPIs) in this area. ORR require train companies to receive claims for delay compensation that have been submitted via such firms, provided that the TPIs comply with the provisions of a TPI code that sets out appropriate standards for transparency, probity and protections against duplicate or fraudulent claims. This proposal builds on last years market review of TPI firms.