Rail Ombudsman Now Hopefully Offering Fairer Compensation for Assistance Failures

The Rail Ombudsman has significantly revised its approach to compensating disabled passengers who experience assistance failures on UK railways. Through a recent case and advocacy, compensation awards have increased from around £100 to a baseline of £1,200. This change better reflects the legal framework around disability discrimination.

Background on Rail Assistance Complaints

The Rail Ombudsman handles complaint appeals when train operators fail to provide agreed assistance or when disabled passengers face other forms of discrimination. Until recently, their compensation awards were notably low:

1. June 2023: Average award of £145.63 for accessibility complaints.
2. 2024 report: Average £112.40.

These amounts treated discrimination incidents as customer service matters rather than acknowledging them as violations of equality law, and fundamentally undervalued the impact of such on disabled people.

The Legal Framework

The Vento case provides the legal precedent for discrimination compensation. Even though Vento was about an employment case, it also applies to services provision. After inflation adjustments, it established that minimum awards for disability discrimination should be £1,200.

“In general, awards of less than £1,200 are to be avoided altogether, as they risk being regarded as so low as not to be a proper recognition of injury to feelings.”

Testing the System

To demonstrate the disparity between legal standards and Ombudsman practices, I pursued parallel cases for a March 2023 minor assistance failure at Euston (#EustonWeHaveAProblem):

1. The Ombudsman process resulted in an award of £100 (plus £25 for complaint handling).
2. The court case concluded with an award of £1,325 for the identical incident.

So, for precisely the same (low impact) assistance failure, the Ombudsman awarded me £100, and the Judge awarded me £1,325. This clear comparison provided excellent ammunition for advocating for better payouts.

The Process of Change

Armed with this, I:

1. Presented the court/Ombudsman comparison to the Office of Rail and Road.
2. Lobbied the Ombudsman about their framework.
3. Demonstrated how legal precedents align with the Ombudsman’s professed “principles of fairness and reasonableness.”

Coincidentally, Sam Jennings was working on the same issue at the same time — double trouble!

Recent Developments

In January 2025, my Ombudsman referral for a minor assistance failure at Birmingham demonstrated their shift in approach. The Ombudsman awarded me £1,200, citing legal advice they had received that:

1. Assistance failures represent a failure to provide reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010.
2. Compensation for the minor assistance failure should typically range from £1,000 to £1,500.
3. The public setting and potential humiliation are relevant factors in determining amounts.

This £1,200 is the highest the Ombudsman has ever awarded for assistance failure or other access issues.

Practical Implications

For disabled passengers experiencing assistance and accessibility failures:

1. The Ombudsman process hopefully now offers more appropriate compensation
2. The minimum award of £1,200 better reflects the impact of discrimination
3. Train and station operators MAY be incentivised to improve their assistance provision

I’ll be interested to see how the Ombudsman deals with future disability discrimination cases!

Current Limitations

Several challenges remain:

1. Making a complaint requires significant time and effort.
2. The Ombudsman’s maximum award remains capped at £2,500.
3. The complaints process itself could be more accessible.

What to Do if Things Go Wrong

If you experience an assistance or accessibility failure:

1. Document everything promptly – times, locations, staff names, and photos, if relevant.
2. Request your data quickly – especially CCTV, which is often deleted after 30 days.
3. Complain to the train company or Network Rail – be specific and state you expect at least £1,200 compensation.
4. If unhappy with their response, take it to the Ombudsman after 40 working days or when the company’s process ends.

Remember to keep copies of all correspondence and make clear you’re complaining about discrimination under the Equality Act.

Further Information

For more detailed information about these changes:

1. Read John Pring’s news coverage.
2. Visit Sam Jenning’s Right to Remedy campaign.

I was originally invited to write this blog piece for the DPAC website, and republish it here with permission.