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Free Limitation Period Calculator

Led by Diellza Nika Hyseni and Mentor Nika · Updated 21 October 2026

The last day to bring a claim in England and Wales under the Limitation Act 1980: personal injury, clinical negligence, NIHL, housing disrepair, contract and negligence, with children, the date of knowledge, capacity and death. Strict by design: where the law is unsettled, it shows the earlier date. From DMD Costs, law costs draftsmen in Westhoughton, Bolton.

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The calculator applies the Limitation Act 1980 as revised on legislation.gov.uk (checked 20 October 2026), the practice directions on issue and the cases on counting, with the bank holidays in England and Wales. It does not decide when a cause of action accrued, the date of knowledge, capacity, concealment (s.32), acknowledgments (s.29) or new claims (s.35), and it does not cover foreign law. It is a guide, not legal advice: if time is short, issue now.

Key points

DMD Costs’ limitation period calculator is a free online tool that works out the last day to bring a civil claim in England and Wales under the Limitation Act 1980, and shows how the date was reached.
It is completely free, with no sign-up or paywall, and runs in your browser; nothing you enter is sent to DMD Costs.
It is strict: you enter every date, including the date of knowledge, which it never infers; where the law is unsettled it shows the earlier date first, with the conventional reading beside it.
A child has 3 years from their 18th birthday for a personal injury claim (s.28). They turn 18 at the start of the birthday, so the calculator shows the day before the 21st birthday as the last day; many sources say the 21st birthday, and no case decides it.
Time does not stop because someone loses capacity after the claim accrued: s.28 applies only to a disability on the date the claim accrued. Incapacity caused by the injury counts only if it existed on that date, for example from the moment of the injury; if it came on later, it is only a factor under s.33(3)(d).
A last day on a weekend or bank holiday is not moved. On paper the next open day may be in time, but that is untested for CE-File and the online services, and a claim on the Damages Claims Portal is brought only when it is issued (PD 51ZB para 2.2(4)).
s.33 lets the court allow a personal injury or fatal claim to proceed out of time. It is a discretion, never a date, and the calculator does not treat it as one.

How to use the limitation calculator

Choose the claim. Choose the kind of claim: personal injury, housing disrepair, contract, negligence or another listed type.
Enter the key date. Enter the date the cause of action accrued: the injury, the breach, the damage or the publication. For a missed deadline, enter the deadline date itself.
Add what applies. For personal injury, add any later date of knowledge you can prove, the date of birth if the injured person may have been under 18, and capacity.
Mark special cases. Mark a death, child sexual abuse, or armed forces service before 15 May 1987 or on an overseas operation.
Read the result. Read the last day, the days left, how it was worked out rule by rule, and the warnings that apply.

Limitation periods at a glance

Claim	Period	Runs from	Limitation Act 1980
Personal injury, including clinical negligence and industrial disease	3 years	The injury, or the date of knowledge if later	s.11
Estate claims (the injured person has died)	3 years	The death, or the personal representative’s knowledge if later, where the death came within the injured person’s own 3 years; otherwise only what s.28 leaves	ss.11(5), 28
Fatal Accidents Act claims	3 years	The death, or the dependant’s knowledge if later; none if the injured person could no longer sue when they died	s.12
Child sexual abuse (personal injury caused by sexual abuse when under 18; not physical abuse)	None	From 29 June 2026; the old date still matters	ss.11ZA, 11ZB
Contract	6 years	The breach	s.5
Tort, such as negligence causing property damage or financial loss	6 years; negligence never more than 15 years from the last negligent act	The damage; the negligent act (longstop)	ss.2, 14B
Latent damage (negligence, not personal injury)	6 years, or 3 from knowledge; 15-year longstop	The damage, or the starting date; the negligent act	ss.14A, 14B
A deed (specialty)	12 years	The cause of action	s.8
Defective Premises Act 1972 s.1	15 years (30 if accrued before 28 June 2022)	Completion of the dwelling	s.4B
Defective product (Consumer Protection Act 1987)	3 years; 10-year longstop	Injury or knowledge; supply of the product	s.11A
Contribution	2 years	The judgment, award or agreement	s.10
Defamation and malicious falsehood	1 year	Publication	s.4A
An action on a judgment	6 years	The date it became enforceable	s.24

How the days are counted

The day the cause of action accrues is not counted, because the law ignores a fraction of a day, so a period of years ends on the corresponding date: an accident on 14 March 2023 gives a last day of 14 March 2026 (Marren v Dawson Bentley, approved in Pritam Kaur; Matthew v Sedman [2021] UKSC 19 [47], [49]). Where the claim accrues at midnight, as with a missed deadline, the next day is a whole day and counts: enter the deadline date itself (Matthew v Sedman [46] to [49]). Years are calendar years, not 365 days, and a period from 29 February ends on 28 February in a non-leap year. Where no case decides whether a start day counts, such as an 18th birthday, a date of knowledge or the day capacity is regained, the calculator counts it, which gives the earlier date, and shows the other reading beside it.

The date of knowledge

For personal injury the 3 years run from the later of the injury and the date of knowledge: when the injured person first knew that the injury was significant, that it was attributable to the act or omission complained of, and who the defendant is (s.14). Knowledge includes what they could reasonably have found out, and the courts assume a person with a significant injury will be curious about its cause; knowing enough to start investigating is enough. For noise-induced hearing loss the test is what a reasonable person in the claimant’s position would have sought advice; in Johnson v Ministry of Defence [2012] EWCA Civ 1505 the court allowed about a year of thinking time on the facts of that case, which is not a rule that adds a year. The calculator does not work out the date of knowledge: enter the earliest date that could be argued, not the date you hope to prove.

Children, capacity and death

If the claimant was under 18, or lacked capacity to conduct proceedings, on the date the claim accrued, time runs from when the disability ends: 3 years for personal injury and 6 for most other claims (s.28; s.38(2)). Incapacity arising later does not stop time. If the injured person dies before their own 3 years under s.11(4) run out, the estate has 3 years from death or from the personal representative’s later knowledge (s.11(5)); if they were still in time at death only because of s.28, the estate has 3 years from the death if the disability lasted until then, and otherwise only what was left of the s.28 period. Each dependant has 3 years from death or their own knowledge, provided the injured person could still have sued when they died (s.12); if not, those claims are barred unless the court uses s.33.

Housing disrepair, armed forces and abuse claims

A landlord’s repairing covenant is broken afresh each day the property stays out of repair, so a disrepair claim looks back 6 years from issue rather than running from one date; the fitness covenant covers nothing before 20 March 2019 (20 March 2020 for existing periodic and secure tenancies). For armed forces claims, Crown immunity can bar the part caused before 15 May 1987, as a bar on liability rather than a limitation date, and for overseas operations s.33 is unavailable more than 6 years after time started (s.33(1ZA)). From 29 June 2026 there is no limitation period for personal injury caused by the sexual abuse of a child (s.11ZA), though physical abuse claimed alongside keeps the ordinary rules (KHX v Isle of Wight Council [2026] EWHC 1949 (KB)), but a claim brought after the old date can be dismissed if a fair hearing is not possible (s.11ZB).

What the calculator does not cover

Human Rights Act claims (one year beginning with the act, s.7(5)), Equality Act county court claims (6 months starting with the act, s.118), air passenger claims under the Montreal Convention (2 years, which cannot be extended), sea passenger claims under the Athens Convention (2 years, extendable only by the carrier’s written declaration or a written agreement), accidents governed by foreign law (Foreign Limitation Periods Act 1984), deliberate concealment, fraud or mistake (s.32), acknowledgments and part payments (s.29) and new claims in existing proceedings (s.35). For pre-action steps, see the free pre-action protocol deadline calculator; a protocol never stops limitation running.

Time limits in the rules: the CPR deadline calculator and the deemed service calculator, including the four months to serve a claim form
Interest: the interest on damages calculator and the judgment interest calculator
Every free tool in one place: costs help for solicitors

Sources

Limitation Act 1980 (ss.2, 4A, 4B, 5, 8, 10, 11, 11ZA, 11ZB, 11A, 12, 13, 14, 14A, 14B, 24, 28, 29, 30, 32, 32A, 33 and 38), as revised on legislation.gov.uk; Crime and Policing Act 2026 s.96
Family Law Reform Act 1969 s.9; Crown Proceedings Act 1947 s.10; Crown Proceedings (Armed Forces) Act 1987; Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (ss.9A, 9B, 11); Defective Premises Act 1972 s.1; Building Safety Act 2022 s.135; Consumer Protection Act 1987 s.4
Matthew v Sedman [2021] UKSC 19, AB v Ministry of Defence [2012] UKSC 9, Johnson v Ministry of Defence [2012] EWCA Civ 1505 and Barnes v St Helens MBC [2006] EWCA Civ 1372; South Bank Hotel Management Co Ltd v Galliard Hotels Ltd [2026] EWCA Civ 56 (applying Bell v Peter Browne & Co [1990] 2 QB 495); KHX v Isle of Wight Council [2026] EWHC 1949 (KB); Pritam Kaur v S Russell & Sons Ltd [1973] QB 336
Practice Direction 7A (para 6.1), Practice Direction 5C (para 3.5), Practice Direction 51ZB (para 2.2) and Practice Direction 51R (para 4.3), Practice Direction 7C(paras 4 and 5.4), CPR 2.8 and CPR 83.2

Frequently asked questions

Three years from the date the cause of action accrued or, if later, the injured person’s date of knowledge (Limitation Act 1980 s.11(4)). The day of the accident is not counted, so the last day is normally the third anniversary of the accident (Marren v Dawson Bentley, approved in Pritam Kaur v S Russell & Sons [1973] QB 336). The same applies to clinical negligence and industrial disease such as noise-induced hearing loss.

A child injured before 18 is under a disability, so the 3 years run from the 18th birthday (s.28(1) and (6)). A person attains 18 at the start of their 18th birthday (Family Law Reform Act 1969 s.9). After Matthew v Sedman [2021] UKSC 19, a whole day probably counts as the first day of a period, so the safe last day is the day before the 21st birthday. Many sources say the 21st birthday itself; no case decides the point, so do not leave issue to the last two days.

The date the injured person first knew, or ought reasonably to have known, that the injury was significant, that it was attributable to the act or omission complained of, who the defendant is and, if someone else’s act is relied on, who that is and the further facts that make the defendant liable (s.14(1)). Knowing that it was negligent in law is not needed, and knowledge includes what they could reasonably have found out, including with expert advice (s.14(3)). Attributable means a real possibility, not certainty (AB v Ministry of Defence [2012] UKSC 9). The calculator never works it out: enter the earliest date that could be argued.

Only if they lacked capacity to conduct proceedings on the date the claim accrued, including where the injury itself caused it (s.28(1); s.38(2)). Time then runs from when capacity is regained. Incapacity that starts later does not stop time; it is only a factor if the court is asked to use its s.33 discretion (s.33(3)(d)).

For a claim form delivered to a court office on paper, the next day the office is open may be in time (Pritam Kaur v S Russell & Sons [1973] QB 336, treated as common ground in Matthew v Sedman). That is untested for CE-File, the Damages Claims Portal, Money Claim Online and online money claims, which can be used every day. CPR 2.8(5) does not help: it applies only to time limits in the rules, practice directions and orders. The calculator shows the last day itself.

A paper claim is brought when the claim form, with the correct fee, is delivered to the correct court office during its opening hours, if that is before it is issued (PD 7A para 6.1; Barnes v St Helens MBC [2006] EWCA Civ 1372 at [16] and [20]). On CE-File, the date and time of filing is when the fee is paid (PD 5C para 3.5(1)). On the Damages Claims Portal and in online civil money claims, only when the claim is issued, not before (PD 51ZB para 2.2(4); PD 51R para 4.3(7)). On Money Claim Online, when the court’s computer system receives it (PD 7C para 5.4).

For personal injury and fatal claims, the court may direct that the time limit does not apply if it would be equitable, having regard to the prejudice to each side and the factors in s.33(3), such as the length of and reasons for the delay. It is a discretion, not a right. It applies only where the claim includes personal injury or death (ss.11, 11A, 12), so not to a contract or property damage claim with no injury; a contract claim that includes an injury, such as a disrepair claim with asthma, is within s.11 and s.33. It cannot touch the Consumer Protection Act 10-year longstop (s.33(1A)), and is not available for overseas armed forces claims brought more than 6 years after time started (s.33(1ZA)).

A claim for breach of the landlord’s repairing covenant is a contract claim, 6 years (s.5), but the covenant is broken afresh every day the property is out of repair, so there is no single last day: losses from breaches more than 6 years before the claim is issued are out of time (Bell v Peter Browne & Co, as applied in South Bank Hotel Management Co Ltd v Galliard Hotels Ltd [2026] EWCA Civ 56). A personal injury claim in the same action has 3 years (s.11), and may bring the whole action under the 3-year rule.

Not for personal injury claims for sexual abuse of someone under 18, from 29 June 2026, including older claims, unless settled or decided by a court before then (Limitation Act 1980 s.11ZA, inserted by s.96 Crime and Policing Act 2026). But if the claim is brought after the old time limit, the court must dismiss it if the defendant shows a fair hearing is not possible (s.11ZB). Estate claims, unless the victim sued before dying, and harassment claims are excluded, and so is physical or other non-sexual abuse claimed in the same action: it keeps the 3-year limit and the s.33 discretion (KHX v Isle of Wight Council [2026] EWHC 1949 (KB)).

It can, but it is not a limitation period. Section 10 of the Crown Proceedings Act 1947 still applies to anything suffered as a result of an act or omission before 15 May 1987 (Crown Proceedings (Armed Forces) Act 1987 s.1), where the Secretary of State certifies it as attributable to service: a bar on liability, not a date. Limitation for a noise-induced hearing loss claim runs under s.11 in the usual way, with the date of knowledge judged objectively (Johnson v Ministry of Defence [2012] EWCA Civ 1505).

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