Skip to main content

Check the status of a refund API reference

This page is part of GOV.UK Pay’s API reference and is an index of the following you’ll use when checking the status of a refund:

  • parameters
  • example requests
  • example responses
  • attributes you’ll get in your response

You can also read more about the GOV.UK Pay refund process in our task-based guidance.

The URL for this endpoint is:

GET https://publicapi.payments.service.gov.uk/v1/payments/{PAYMENT_ID}/refunds/{REFUND_ID}

You can use this endpoint to get details about an individual refund.

The data from this endpoint is strongly consistent, meaning it is updated immediately after you make any changes. You can read more about data consistency in our API.

Path parameters for ‘Check the status of a refund’

Name Type Description
{PAYMENT_ID} (required) string The unique ID of the payment you want to view a refund of.

GOV.UK Pay associates a unique paymentId with a payment when you create that payment.
{REFUND_ID} (required) string The unique ID of the refund you want to view.

GOV.UK Pay associates a unique refundId with a refund when you refund a payment.

If one payment has multiple refunds, each refund has a different refund_id.

Example request for ‘Check the status of a refund’

This example request gets information about the refund with the refund ID 4jfabcee0ev36so050kooajabk that is part of the payment with the payment ID hu20sqlact5260q2nanm0q8u93:

curl "https://publicapi.payments.service.gov.uk/v1/payments/hu20sqlact5260q2nanm0q8u93/refunds/4jfabcee0ev36so050kooajabk" -H "Authorization: Bearer api_test_123abc456def"

Example response for ‘Check the status of a refund’

After you send your request to check the status of a refund, you’ll receive a response similar to this example:

{
  "amount": 2000,
  "created_date": "2019-09-19T16:53:03.213Z",
  "refund_id": "4jfabcee0ev36so050kooajabk",
  "status": "success",
  "settlement_summary": {
    "settled_date": "2019-09-21"
  }
}

Attributes you’ll get in a ‘Check the status of a refund’ response

Name Type Description
amount number The amount refunded to the user in pence.
created_date date (ISO 8601) The date and time you created this refund.

This value uses Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and ISO 8601 format - YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.sssZ.
refund_id string The unique ID GOV.UK Pay automatically associated with this refund when you created it.

If one payment has multiple refunds, each refund has a different refund_id.
status string The status of the refund.

Possible values are:

  • submitted
  • success
  • error

  • It may take up to 30 minutes for status to change. Do not check the status more than once every 5 minutes.

    You can read more about refund statuses.
    settlement_summary object Contains information about when this refund was settled.

    A refund is settled when Stripe takes the refund amount from a payout to your bank account.

    settlement_summary is only available if your payment service provider is Stripe.
    settlement_summary.settled_date date (ISO 8601) The date Stripe took the refund from a payout to your bank account.

    settled_date only appears if Stripe has taken the refund.

    This value uses Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and ISO 8601 format - YYYY-MM-DD.