At a glance
Count and aggregate value (in GBP) of UK shipping claims currently open across the underlying carriers. Claims are filed via each carrier’s portal (DPD, Royal Mail, ParcelForce, FedEx UK) for parcels lost or damaged in transit on services that include compensation cover.
| What it counts | COUNT(claims WHERE status IN ('Open', 'Under Review')) and SUM(declared_value) at read time, across underlying carriers Net Dispatch surfaces. |
| UK carrier claim semantics | Royal Mail: compensation up to £20 included on Tracked services, up to £100 on Special Delivery Guaranteed; can buy higher cover. DPD: compensation up to £100 included; can buy higher. Evri: included up to £20, no upgrades available. Yodel: similar to Evri. ParcelForce: up to £100 on Express services. FedEx UK: same as US FedEx (declared value cover). |
| Filing window | Carrier-dependent: Royal Mail 14 days from posting; DPD 30 days; Evri 28 days; ParcelForce 30 days; FedEx UK 9 to 21 days. Net Dispatch surfaces filing-deadline reminders. |
| Adjudication SLA | UK carriers typically faster than US: DPD 5 to 10 working days; Royal Mail 14 to 30 days (Royal Mail is the slowest); Evri 14 to 21 days; ParcelForce 10 to 21 days. The “open >7 days” alert flags claims past most carriers’ median. |
| Pay-out rates | UK pay-out rates vary widely: DPD typically 80-90% approval; Royal Mail 50-70% (strict evidence requirements); Evri 40-60% (cheapest insurance, weakest payouts); ParcelForce 70-85%. |
| Currency | GBP for UK domestic claims. International claims (FedEx UK) may be in USD or EUR. |
| Time window | RT (real-time, refreshed daily) |
| Alert trigger | >0 claims unresolved for >7 days |
| Roles | owner, operations, finance |
Calculation
Calculated automatically from your NetDispatch data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.Worked example
A UK DTC homeware merchant via Net Dispatch with mixed carrier portfolio. Reading taken on 12 Mar 26.| Carrier | Open count | Aggregate value (GBP) | Median age (days) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Mail (lost in transit) | 12 | £980 | 18 |
| Royal Mail (damaged) | 8 | £640 | 21 |
| DPD (lost) | 4 | £520 | 6 |
| DPD (damaged) | 6 | £710 | 5 |
| Evri (lost) | 14 | £390 | 12 |
| Evri (damaged) | 18 | £580 | 14 |
| ParcelForce (damaged) | 3 | £240 | 8 |
| Open total (this card) | 65 | £4,060 | 12 |
- Royal Mail aged claims (median 18-21 days) need active follow-up. Royal Mail is the slowest UK adjudicator; chasing aged claims via the Royal Mail Claims portal is necessary for pay-out. Two of the 20 are at 30+ days and will likely need MP-level escalation if Royal Mail doesn’t respond.
- DPD claims at 5-6 days median are in normal range. DPD’s 5-10 day SLA is the strongest UK adjudication; expect resolution within 1-2 weeks of filing.
- Evri at 32 of 65 (49%) of claims is disproportionate to volume. Evri’s higher loss-and-damage rate combined with weakest pay-out rates means Evri claim leakage is a persistent finance issue. Compare Evri’s saving (~£2/parcel cheaper) against expected unrecovered loss; for high-AOV products, the trade often inverts.
- Expected pay-out: ~£2,400 to £3,000. DPD strong (£900-1,100), Royal Mail uncertain (£800-1,200), Evri weak (£400-650), ParcelForce moderate (£170-200). Use the lower end for cash-flow forecasting.
- Q4 is coming. UK Christmas peak typically generates 2x to 3x normal claim volume; open balances climb proportionally. Plan finance reconciliation for January-February.
Sibling cards merchants should reference together
| Card | Why pair it with Open Claims | What the combination tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Claim Value | Dollar tail of count card. | Count plus value. |
| Failed Delivery Count | Upstream feeder. | Failed deliveries that escalate to lost-in-transit drive claim filings. |
| Returned to Sender | Disposition split. | Some failed deliveries recovered as RTS. |
| Exception Rate | Lead indicator. | Damage and lost exceptions predict claims. |
Cross-connector: royal_mail.rm_open_claims | Direct-RM subset. | Same. |
| Cross-connector: third-party UK shipping insurance (e.g. ParcelHero, ParcelCompare insurance) | Alternative coverage. | Some merchants buy third-party UK shipping cover for faster adjudication. |
Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard
Where to look in Net Dispatch’s own dashboard: Net Dispatch Dashboard → Claims. Aggregates claims filed via the Net Dispatch claim-management workflow across underlying carriers. For carrier-specific direct claims, see each carrier’s portal: Royal Mail Claims, DPD Account → Claims, ParcelForce Claims, etc. Why our number may legitimately differ from Net Dispatch’s portal:| Reason | Direction | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Filing channel | Either | Claims filed directly with carriers (bypassing Net Dispatch) may not appear in Net Dispatch’s view. |
| Status sync | Card may show stale | Net Dispatch updates carrier-side claim status daily. |
| Card | Expected relationship | What causes legitimate divergence |
|---|---|---|
royal_mail.rm_open_claims | Direct-RM if separately connected. | Direct-RM claims don’t pass through Net Dispatch. |
dpd.dpd_open_claims | Same for DPD. | Same. |