Transport Insights

Although the media have gone with the obvious bad news angle on the RAC’s survey showing that pothole compensation claims submitted to councils in England, Scotland and Wales jumped by 91% in three years, things actually seem to be improving.

While the comparison to 2021 is concerning, the number of claims has thankfully come down slightly year-on-year. The local authorities that responded to the RAC’s request for data received a total of 56,655 claims in 2023, meaning compensation requests have dropped by six per cent to 2024’s number (53,015).

There is a lot of discussion in the RAC’s press release and in the reporting about preventative maintenance instead of putting resources into repairs but the downside of this is that until it pays off, vehicles will continue to be damaged.

The RAC press release ends on a positive note (or is it wishful thinking?) with its head of policy Simon Williams saying:

We’re now hopeful the dial will really begin to shift as highways authorities in England were this year given a record £1.6bn by the Government for road maintenance. And for the first time they’ve been required to show how much vital preventative maintenance they’ll be carrying out to stop potholes forming in the first place.

On top of this, the Government has now announced multi-year settlements which will give councils the certainty they need to plan and deliver better maintenance programmes. This can only be a good thing.

So, while the figures we’ve analysed are a cause for concern, we hope pothole compensation claims will begin to decline as local authorities increase the amount of preventative surface dressing work on their roads.