Marcus Clements Head of Consumer Policy Rail Markets and Economics 
  
 
26 March 2019 
 
Martin Howard Customer Experience Director Northern (By Email) 
 
Dear Martin, 

## Compliance With Condition 5 Of Your Station Licence And Gb Statement Of National Regulatory Provisions: Passenger

 I am writing to you regarding the performance of Northern and its compliance with its obligations under the Disabled People's Protection Policy (DPPP). In its DPPP, which we approved in July 2017, Northern committed to providing an Assisted Travel service which enables disabled and older people to arrange, in advance, the assistance they require for boarding and alighting trains and moving through your staffed stations. In 2017-18, the last year for which we have figures, Northern received over 45,000 booked assistance requests. As you will be aware, ORR has commissioned ongoing research into the experience of passengers who have booked assistance. The most recent research results show that at the stations managed by Northern, in rail periods 1-8 in 2018-19, 81% of passengers surveyed received all or some of the assistance they had booked in advance1. We were particularly concerned that, although almost all reached their destination, 17% of passengers stated they had received none of the assistance they had booked. We note that Northern was also below the national average for 'all assistance received' in 2017-18. It is clear that the ongoing level of reliability of service for passengers who require assistance is currently below that which we, and passengers expect. This can have a negative impact on their confidence of using assistance services. Therefore, I shall be grateful if you will explain the reasons for the shortfall in performance together with the steps you plan to take to improve the reliability of the assistance provided to passengers at stations, and on-board trains to achieve the necessary compliance with requirements. 

Next steps 
 
I shall be grateful if you will provide me with your response by **Friday 12 April 2019**. 

Please note that this letter and your reply will be published on our website. 

Yours sincerely 
 
 
Marcus Clements signature