Statute of Limitations UK: Key Legal Time Limits & Deadlines

Key Takeaways

1. The statute of limitations in the UK sets strict deadlines for starting legal claims—missing these windows could mean your case becomes statute-barred and dismissed by the courts.
2. Different claims, such as contract disputes, personal injury, and debt recovery, each have unique limitation periods, typically between one and six years.
3. Accurately calculating your limitation period is essential; starting a claim too late risks losing your legal rights and may lead to significant financial losses.
4. The Limitation Act 1980 establishes the main rules for limitation periods in England and Wales, including key exceptions and possible extensions in special cases.
5. Circumstances involving children, fraud, or mental incapacity may pause or extend the standard time limits—but relying on these exceptions without strong evidence is risky.
6. Getting professional guidance helps you avoid critical legal mistakes, ensuring your documents align with UK law and your interests are protected.
7. If you’re uncertain about your deadline, use Go-Legal AI’s calculators and scenario-guided tools to check your exact time limits for any type of UK legal claim.
8. Handling legal matters without proper documentation increases the risk of disputes, unenforceable contracts, and avoidable costs.
9. Go-Legal AI holds an “Excellent” rating on Trustpilot with over 170 five-star reviews from real users.
10. With Go-Legal AI, you gain access to plain English guidance, expertly drafted templates, and UK-specific support—perfect for startups, freelancers, and small businesses.

What Is the Statute of Limitations in the UK and Why Do Deadlines Matter?

Many business owners, freelancers, and founders worry about missing critical legal deadlines or not understanding how long they have to bring a claim. In England and Wales, strict legal time limits govern when you can start court proceedings. If you miss these deadlines, your claim may become “statute-barred”, meaning it can be thrown out by the court—regardless of its merit.

Understanding the statute of limitations in the UK is vital to protect both your rights and your business. The Limitation Act 1980 sets these periods, but the exact deadline depends on the nature of your claim—such as breach of contract, injury, or debt. Failing to act promptly can leave you unable to recover debts, pursue compensation, or defend your interests.

Throughout this guide, you’ll learn how to calculate your limitation period, see practical examples and key exceptions, and discover strategic tips to avoid common pitfalls. Go-Legal AI offers easy-to-use tools and templates that help you check deadlines and create compliant documents in minutes—so you never risk missing out on legal enforcement.

Why Are Statutory Legal Deadlines So Important in the UK?

The statute of limitations establishes the maximum time after a relevant event in which you are allowed to initiate legal proceedings. In England and Wales, these “limitation periods” ensure legal claims are brought while the evidence is still reliable and memories are fresh. Limitation periods also protect individuals and businesses from indefinite legal uncertainty.

Once the limitation period expires, the claimant generally loses the right to bring that specific legal claim. For practical business management, this allows companies to plan, close accounts, and avoid the disruption of old disputes resurfacing years later.

Ignoring or miscalculating these deadlines carries serious consequences. Courts in England and Wales enforce limitation periods strictly. If you attempt to bring an out-of-time claim—even if it’s well-founded—the court will almost always strike your case out. This can mean forfeiting the right to recover money, losing control of your business interests, or suffering reputational damage.

Understanding which period applies and how to calculate your claim deadlines is essential. Below, you’ll find a breakdown of key limitation periods and exactly how to ensure you remain within time.

What Does “Statute-Barred” Mean in UK Law?

If a legal claim is “statute-barred,” it means the legal deadline has passed and the claim is no longer enforceable in court. The defendant can raise this as a complete defence, and the court will usually dismiss the case—even if the facts support your claim. This applies to everything from unpaid invoices and contract disputes to injury and property claims.

Statute-barred claims cannot be revived by arguing fairness; the law sets hard limits to promote certainty and avoid open-ended risk for everyone involved.

If you’re worried your claim may be statute-barred, use our AI-powered Limitation Checker Tool to quickly see if you still have time to pursue your case under UK law.

How Long Do You Have? Limitation Periods for Common UK Legal Claims

Limitation Periods in England & Wales: Key Deadlines by Claim Type

Each category of legal claim in the UK is subject to a specific limitation period, typically set out in the Limitation Act 1980. The most common claim periods are:

• Contract disputes and debts: 6 years to start proceedings from the breach or date payment was due.
• Personal injury claims: 3 years from the date of injury or the earliest date you knew the injury resulted from another party’s fault.
• Defamation: Only 1 year from the date of publication.
• Other claims (e.g. property, latent damage, fraud): Rules can vary—always check specific circumstances.

Knowing your claim type and time limit is the first step in protecting your rights.

Limitation Periods Table: Quick Reference for UK Legal Actions

For real-time guidance and up-to-date tables, use our interactive deadline calculators and scenario guides in your Go-Legal AI dashboard.

How to Calculate Your Limitation Period in the UK: Step-by-Step Guidance

Determining Your Claim’s Start Date

The limitation period generally starts from when your cause of action “accrues”, which depends on the type of claim:

• Contract: From the date of breach (e.g., missed payment, failed delivery).
• Personal injury: From the date of injury or, if later, when you first reasonably discovered it was caused by another’s wrongdoing (the “date of knowledge”).
• Latent damage or hidden defects: From when the problem was discovered, or ought reasonably to have been found.

Some claims use a “discovery rule” to prevent injustice if a problem remains hidden for years.

Calculating Where Exceptions May Apply

To accurately work out your deadline, consider these steps:

1. Define Your Claim Type: Debt, contract, tort, personal injury, or employment.
2. Pinpoint the Accrual Date: Clearly log the date of breach, injury, or discovery.
3. Check for Exceptions:
   • Was the potential claimant a child or lacking mental capacity?
   • Could fraud, concealment, or deliberate wrongdoing have delayed your discovery?
   • Has the debtor acknowledged the debt or made part payment (which can reset the 6-year clock)?
4. Adjust the Deadline: If any exception applies, recalculate from the relevant start point.
5. Monitor Procedural Rules: Remember courts can allow extensions in limited scenarios (e.g. defamation).

What Happens if You Miss Your Limitation Period in the UK?

Missing your limitation period usually means losing your right to take legal action. If you issue a claim after the time has expired, the defendant can raise the “limitation defence,” and the court will nearly always strike the claim out. Even a strong underlying claim cannot override these statutory rules.

Typical outcomes include:

• Defendants promptly objecting on limitation grounds during the court process.
• The court conducting a preliminary hearing or striking out the claim purely “on the papers.”
• Claimants being ordered to pay the defendant’s legal costs in addition to losing their case.

To avoid this situation, always check your facts with our limitation period calculator before starting proceedings—it’s a simple way to save time, money, and disappointment.

When Can Limitation Periods Be Extended in the UK?

Common Exceptions and Extensions Under the Limitation Act 1980

While most limitation periods are strictly enforced, the law provides for certain situations where the period can be paused or extended. The leading exceptions include:

• Children: The clock does not start until the child turns 18, so the period generally runs until age 21.
• Mental incapacity: Time is suspended while the potential claimant lacks mental capacity.
• Fraud or Concealment: Where fraud or deliberate concealment delayed your discovery of the claim, the period starts from discovery, not the original event.
• Acknowledgement or part payment (debts): Making a payment or formally acknowledging the debt resets the 6-year timescale.

If you intend to rely on any of these exceptions, the burden is on you to provide clear evidence.

If fraud is uncovered years after the act—such as an employee secretly siphoning funds discovered much later—the limitation period begins from the date the fraud was, or should have been, uncovered.

Limitation Periods vs. Serving a Claim Form: The Crucial Difference

It’s vital to understand that the limitation period dictates when your claim must be issued at court—not when it must be served upon the defendant. Serving court documents is subject to separate, strict timeframes. Filing in time but failing to serve correctly can ruin your case.

How to Check Your UK Legal Claim Deadline: Practical Step-by-Step Process

Five Steps to Stay Within Your Legal Time Limit

1. Identify the Nature of Your Claim: Know whether it’s contract, debt, personal injury, or another type.
2. Gather All Documentation: Collect relevant agreements, invoices, correspondence, and evidence marking the key event date.
3. Pinpoint the Trigger Date: Find the exact date of breach, non-payment, injury, or discovery.
4. Use a Limitation Calculator and Check Exceptions: Access scenario-based calculators and interactive tables (like those within our platform) for your specific deadline, factoring in any possible exception.
5. Log Key Dates and Get Support if Needed: Record all critical dates, set reminders, and use our step-by-step document templates or AI review tools to protect your claim and avoid last-minute mistakes.

How Our Platform Helps You Stay on Top of Limitation Periods

Go-Legal AI makes it straightforward to keep your legal claims valid and avoid missing vital claim deadlines under current UK law. Our solution enables you to:

• Instantly calculate limitation periods for your situation using easy scenario-based guides.
• Download lawyer-approved letters and templates to help with debt acknowledgements, serving limitation notices, or recording important dates.
• Use guided checklists to determine claim types and identify any relevant exceptions efficiently.
• Access up-to-date limitation tables and robust expert guidance, saving you time and reducing legal costs.
• Receive deadline and service reminders, ensuring you never trip up on procedural errors.

Whether you’re pursuing overdue payments, dealing with a contract dispute, or safeguarding your business from old claims, our Limitation Checker Tool and templates keep your affairs organised and compliant.

Stay Ahead of Legal Deadlines: Protect Your Rights with Go-Legal AI

Missing a statutory deadline in the UK isn’t just a technical error—it can cost you money, business opportunities, and peace of mind. The rules are strict, the clock rarely stops, and making an error in calculating your limitation period can lead to irreversible losses. Outdated templates or relying on assumptions puts your claims—and your business—at risk.

By using Go-Legal AI’s calculator, expert templates, and automated reminders, you can move forward with certainty. Manage every legal deadline confidently, avoid costly disputes, and take informed action at the right time. Take control of your legal risk—use our free Limitation Checker Tool today, and ensure your contracts, claims, and rights are safeguarded under UK law.