UK: The Business Travel Association has called for the changes to rail ticket refund rules which come into force on April 1 to be delayed by at least 12 months, saying the policy penalises the ‘lowest-risk, highest-yielding customers’ and gives travel management companies and their corporate clients insufficient time to adapt.
The changes will mean refunds for unused flexible tickets can only be claimed until 23.59 on the day before they become valid for travel, ending the practice of accepting refund claims up to 28 days after the date of travel. This aims to prevent fraud where people ask for their money back when they have used a service but the ticket was not scanned or endorsed. The change means that any tickets bought on the day will not be refundable unless the passenger chooses not to travel because the train is cancelled or disrupted.
BTA believes that this change will disproportionately affect business travellers - ‘a high-value, low-risk segment’ - and risks pushing corporate travellers back into cars, ‘undoing years of progress in sustainable business travel’.
The association say removing refundability creates significant operational and financial risk for businesses. Changes that require major system redevelopment, staff retraining, audit process redesign and client communication could take ‘many months’ to implement.
BTA is calling for a 12-month extension for BTA-licensed TMCs to be administered through the rail industry’s licensing framework, enforcement-led solutions to tackle fraud at source, clear guidance on cancellation evidence standards and meaningful consultation before further changes.
‘These new rail refund rules risk hitting business travellers hardest while missing the real source of the fraud problem’, said BTA CEO Clive Wratten on March 24. ‘For companies that rely on flexible rail tickets, this means higher costs, more admin and less confidence in rail as a business travel option. BTA members handle around £1bn of rail spend a year, and around 65% of the tickets they book are exactly the flexible fares affected by this change. We are asking for a 12-month extension so the industry has time to build the right systems, train staff and inform customers properly. Without that, there is a real danger rail becomes even less incentivised and businesses will simply default back to the car.’
A Rail Delivery Group spokesperson told Rail Business UK ‘fare evasion and refund fraud take money away from the railway every year, increasing the burden on fare‑paying passengers and taxpayers at a time when money is tight for public services. That’s why from April 1 2026 the refund rules are being updated to make them clearer and fairer for everyone.
‘RDG has been engaging closely with the BTA, TMCs and key suppliers to the business travel sector on the changes to understand any potential impacts. That engagement is ongoing and we’ll continue working with the sector to make sure the updated rules work for business travellers.’
