Northern pays Delay Repay when a delayed or cancelled Northern service gets you to your destination 15 minutes or more late. You can take money (25% of a single for 15-29 minutes, 50% for 30-59, 100% for 60-119, and the full return from 120 minutes) or, for delays of 30 minutes or more, free Northern tickets instead. Claim within 28 days of travelling on Northern’s Delay Repay claim portal, listing your whole journey.
Northern Delay Repay at a glance
| Northern | |
|---|---|
| Threshold | 15 minutes |
| Covers | Delays, cancellations and alternative transport Northern provided |
| Free-ticket option | From 30 minutes |
| Time limit | 28 days from the date of travel |
| Claim online | delayrepay.northernrailway.co.uk |
| Rules | Northern’s Delay Repay help article |
Northern now runs a 15-minute scheme. If you remember a 30-minute threshold, that belongs to an earlier version that the current help article no longer mentions.
Who can claim from Northern?
You can claim if a Northern train, or a replacement Northern laid on, made you at least 15 minutes late at your final destination. The important condition is that a Northern service must have caused the delay in the first place. If another company’s train started the delay, you claim from that company instead.
Northern also wants the full journey on the claim, from where you started to where you finished, not just the leg that ran late.
Money: how much Northern pays
| Delay at destination | Single | Return |
|---|---|---|
| 15-29 min | 25% | 12.5% of the return fare |
| 30-59 min | 50% | 25% of the return fare |
| 60-119 min | 100% | 50% of the return fare |
| 120 min or more | 100% | 100% of the return fare |
Return payouts are shown as a share of the whole return fare; 12.5% of a return equals a quarter of the delayed leg.
Free tickets: Northern’s alternative to cash
This is the main thing that sets Northern apart. From 30 minutes, you can choose free travel on Northern instead of money:
| Delay at destination | Free Northern travel |
|---|---|
| 15-29 min | Not offered (money only) |
| 30-59 min | 1 single ticket |
| 60-119 min | 1 return ticket |
| 120 min or more | 2 return tickets |
Is it better value than cash? It depends on your fare. Say your return costs £12 and the outward leg is 40 minutes late. Cash is 25% of £12, so £3. A free single may be worth more than that, but only if you will use it, so compare the cash figure with the fare you would actually travel on.
Season ticket holders delayed by 30 minutes or more can pick a free ticket as well. And if you were travelling on a complimentary Northern ticket and were delayed by 60 minutes or more, Northern will replace it.
Season tickets, and why the Flexi rule is different
Northern converts your season into a value per journey, then applies the same percentages as above.
| Season ticket | Price divided by |
|---|---|
| Weekly | 10 |
| Monthly | 40 |
| Annual | 464 |
| Flexi Season | 8 |
Northern’s own worked example uses a £100 weekly ticket: that is £10 a journey, so a 20-minute delay pays 25% of £10, or £2.50.
Flexi seasons. Northern divides a Flexi Season by 8. GTR (Thameslink, Southern) and Southeastern divide theirs by 16. This is a genuine difference in how the operators calculate, not a typo on either side. On a £160 Flexi, Northern’s method gives £20 per journey, where a divide-by-16 method would give £10, so a 30-minute delay would pay £10 rather than £5. If an online calculator gives you a lower figure for a Northern Flexi, it is probably using the 16 divisor.
How to claim from Northern
- Go to Northern’s Delay Repay claim portal and start a claim.
- Enter the full journey, the train you meant to catch and when you arrived.
- Upload your ticket or proof of travel.
- Choose your payment: bank transfer, UK debit or credit card, NatWest PayIt, rail travel vouchers, a complimentary ticket, a cashable voucher of up to £50 (exchanged at Northern ticket offices) or a donation to Samaritans.
You can also claim by post using Northern’s paper form, sent to Freepost Northernrailway.
Northern aims to review a claim within 5 working days and close it within 10, or within 20 working days at busy periods.
Connections, split tickets and other operators
Because Northern pays only when its own train was the first cause, a missed connection is usually claimed from whichever operator ran late first. National Rail’s Conditions of Travel (condition 32.1) measure the delay at your final destination, and let you send a claim to any operator you used, which then forwards it.
Split tickets are valid together when your train calls at the station where you change from one ticket to the next (condition 14.2). Northern’s requirement to list the whole journey makes this easier to show on a claim. Our Delay Repay guide has more on split tickets and connections.
Cancellations, strikes and engineering works
A cancelled Northern train counts if you went on to travel and reached your destination 15 minutes or more late, including on a bus or other transport Northern arranged. If you abandoned the trip, you need a refund instead; condition 33.5 of the Conditions of Travel stops you claiming both.
Northern’s Delay Repay article does not deal with strikes, so National Rail’s rule applies: a strike-related delay that passes the 15-minute threshold is claimed from the operator you travelled with, and a train cancelled, delayed or rescheduled because of a strike entitles you to a fee-free refund or change from your ticket retailer (condition 30.1). Our train strikes page tracks current action.
For planned engineering works, condition 32.1 measures delays against the timetable in force that day, including any published replacement timetable.
If Northern rejects your claim
Appeal through your Delay Repay account, or email [email protected] with your claim details. Before you do, check that a Northern train caused the first delay, because Northern pays only in that case. For delays of 60 minutes or more, condition 32.1 of the Conditions of Travel entitles you to compensation regardless of fault. The Delay Repay hub covers the next steps if Northern will not budge.
Frequently asked questions
Is Northern Delay Repay 15 or 30 minutes?
Northern pays from 15 minutes late at your destination. The free-ticket alternative only starts at 30 minutes, so for a 15 to 29 minute delay the payout is money: 25% of a single or 12.5% of a return.
What free tickets does Northern give instead of Delay Repay money?
For a delay of 30 to 59 minutes you can take one free Northern single, for 60 to 119 minutes one free return, and for 120 minutes or more two free returns. Season ticket holders delayed by 30 minutes or more can choose a free ticket too.
How does Northern work out Delay Repay on a Flexi season?
Northern's help article divides the Flexi Season price by 8 to get the value of a journey, then applies the usual percentages. GTR and Southeastern divide by 16, so do not assume another operator's calculation applies to a Northern Flexi.
Can I claim from Northern if another operator's train made me late?
Northern only pays when one of its own services was the first cause of the delay. If another company's train started the problem, claim from that company. You still need to list the whole journey on any claim.
Does Northern pay if it put on a bus or taxi instead of a train?
Yes. Northern's scheme covers journeys you finished on alternative transport that Northern arranged, measured by how late you reached your destination.
How long does Northern take to process Delay Repay?
Northern aims to look at a claim within 5 working days and settle it within 10, stretching to 20 working days when it is busy.
Can I get Northern Delay Repay as cash at a station?
You can choose a cashable voucher worth up to £50 and redeem it at a Northern ticket office. Other options are bank transfer, a UK card, NatWest PayIt, rail travel vouchers, a free ticket or a donation to Samaritans.
Sources
- Northern - Delay Repay help article
- Northern - Delay Repay claim portal
- National Rail Enquiries - Industrial action
- National Rail Conditions of Travel (July 2026)
Checked 25 October 2026.