In the United Kingdom, there are time limits after which court actions cannot be taken in certain types of cases. These differ across the three legal systems in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom has no statute of limitations for any criminal offence tried above magistrate level.^[1]

Civil

England and Wales

The key piece of legislation relating to civil claims in England and Wales is the Limitation Act 1980, which identifies the time limits for various types of cases.

Debt

If a lender allows six years to pass without receiving any payment, an action for recovery may become statute-barred.^[2]

Injury

The general time limit for injury litigation is three years, with multiple exceptions and special cases. The statute of limitations for injuries to children only starts at the age of eighteen. The statute of limitations for brain damage begins only when the victim has been medically acknowledged as regaining cognitive ability. The Montreal Convention (1999) and the Athens Convention (1974) govern the statute of limitations for compensation for injuries sustained on an aeroplane or while at sea, respectively.^[3]

Libel

The limitation period for libel, slander, slander of title, slander of goods, or other malicious falsehood is one year.^[4]

Contracts

Contracts may provide their own limitation periods as agreed between the parties. In the case of Inframatric Investments v Dean Construction (2012), the prospective claimants were time-barred in seeking litigation against the defendant because a meeting where "without prejudice" negotiations had taken place, intended to resolve the parties' dispute, could not be treated as falling within the period upto practical completion of the contracted works, because they did not form part of the completed "services" from which, according to the contract, the limitation period was to be calculated.^[5]

Scotland

The principal piece of legislation governing civil limitation periods in Scotland is the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973.^[6]

Northern Ireland

The main legislation covering limitation periods in Northern Ireland is the Limitation (Northern Ireland) Order 1989.^[7]

Criminal

Indictable offences

Unlike other European countries, the United Kingdom has no general statute of limitations for crimes triable by jury, known as indictable offences.^[8] This includes either-way offences that are tried by jury.

Following a number of acquittals and wrongful convictions of people charged with serious sexual crimes alleged to have been committed several decades prior, there has been some debate as to whether there should be a statute of limitations for historical rape and sexual assault cases, as prosecutions rely solely on personal testimonies and have no physical or scientific evidence due to the passage of time.^[9]

Summary offences and either-way offences are tried summarily

In England and Wales, magistrates' courts hear summary and non-indicted either-way offences^[8] — generally, crimes that are punishable by a fine and/or by less than 6 months' imprisonment.

Section 127 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980^[10] states that normally:

A magistrates' court shall not try an information or hear a complaint unless the information was laid or the complaint made within 6 months from the time when the offence was committed or the matter of complaint arose.

This time limit does not apply to either-way offences tried summarily. However, any time limit for such an offence imposed by statute binds the magistrates' court as it would a Crown court.

In Scotland, the time limit for a summary offence (regardless of which court tries it) is six months, unless an enactment sets a different time limit. The clock stops while the accused is deciding whether to accept a fixed penalty notice, compensation offer, or work offer in lieu of prosecution. The limit does not apply to either-way offences even if tried summarily.^[11]

Traffic offences

Section 1 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988^[12] and article 5 of The Road Traffic Offenders (Northern Ireland) Order 1996^[13] require a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) to be served within 14 days of applicable offences being committed; if that does not occur, it may follow that any further action may be prevented. However, there are exceptions to the 14-day rule; for example, if an "accident" (i.e., collision) occurs or if the vehicle was not being driven by the registered keeper of the vehicle (as, for example, a company vehicle), the police may make appropriate investigations. The date of the offence is excluded.

The onus is on the body issuing the Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) to ensure the notice is served within 14 days. The definition of "served" has changed. Prior to 1994, NIPs were served by registered or recorded post, but in 1994, the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 was amended to allow for standard postal delivery. Several successful defences to a NIP have been conducted on the production of the envelope that contained the NIP, in which the postmark on the envelope indicated to a court that the NIP could not have been received (served) within the 14-day limit.

Electoral offences

Section 176 of the Representation of the People Act 1983^[14] requires that proceedings for any offence under that act, namely personation, fraudlent voting, vote tampering, violating vote secrecy, publishing pre-closure exit polls, etc.,^[15] must begin within one year of the offence being committed.