DfT payments to passenger rail operators under emergency agreements
Summary of payments, including management fees, made by the Department for Transport (DfT) to train operating companies (TOCs) from March 2020 to February 2021 under emergency agreements.
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Details
The Department for Transport (DfT) put in place emergency measures agreements (EMAs) with privately owned franchised train operating companies (TOCs) to mitigate the financial impacts resulting from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and ensure that rail services could continue to operate.
The EMAs were agreed in March 2020, and took effect from 1 April 2020 with their financial provisions back-dated to 1 March 2020. For the majority of TOCs, the EMA applied until 20 September 2020 and operated as a temporary amendment to the underlying franchise agreement, which remains in place.
From 21 September 2020 onwards, the EMAs were replaced by emergency recovery measures agreements (ERMAs) for the majority of TOCs. The ERMAs are a further temporary amendment to the underlying franchise agreements, and are of varying lengths up to a maximum of around 18 months.
There are some exceptions to these arrangements for certain TOCs. These are described in more depth in the details of operational support payments to franchised passenger rail operators under emergency agreements, which explains how these payments are calculated and made, and process for determining performance scores under EMAs, which outlines how DfT determines EMA performance scores.
Operational support payments
Under both EMAs and ERMAs, the DfT receives revenue collected and pays most operating costs incurred by TOCs through a regular franchise payment, made roughly every 4 weeks. This payment is entirely to fund the ongoing provision of passenger rail services by these operators; none of this money is passed to shareholders.
Operational payments to TOCs under emergency agreements provides data on these operational support payments for each TOC from March 2020 to February 2021.
Management and performance fees
Separately, TOCs can also earn management and performance fees. These are payable retrospectively on receipt of audited statutory accounts covering the period to which the fees relate. In due course, and subject to conditions, they represent earnings that can be passed on to shareholders.
The process of assessing and scoring TOCs’ performance, and determining the management and performance fees payable as a result, has now concluded for the initial EMA period of 1 March 2020 to 20 September 2020.
EMA performance scores and fees provides data on the EMA performance scores, and the management and performance fees payable to those TOCs in private ownership.
Last updated 12 May 2021 + show all updates
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Added operator payment data for March 2020 to February 2021, and management and performance fees data for March to September 2020.
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First published.