How It Works

Deadline Engine calculates litigation deadlines using the rules set out in the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR), the Limitation Act 1980, pre-action protocols, and tribunal procedure rules. Every calculation is deterministic arithmetic and calendar logic. No AI or language models are involved in the computation. Each deadline card includes a “Show calculation” button revealing the step by step logic.

CPR 2.8(1) applies to any period specified by the Rules, a practice direction, or a court order. All CPR time periods use “clear days” as defined in CPR 2.8(2)–(3): the day the period begins and the deadline day itself are both excluded from the count.

CPR 2.8(4), the “5 days or fewer” exclusion: Where the specified period is 5 days or fewer and includes a Saturday, Sunday, bank holiday, Christmas Day, or Good Friday, that day does not count. For periods of more than 5 days (e.g. 14 or 28 days), weekends and bank holidays are included in the count. 2.8(4) does not apply.

CPR 2.8(5), court office closed:When the deadline for doing an act at the court office falls on a day the office is closed, the act is in time if done on the next day the court office is open. The word “When” was substituted on 1 October 2025 by S.I. 2025/893.

Claim forms (CPR 6.14):A claim form served within the UK is deemed served on the second business day after the step required by CPR 7.5(1) was completed, regardless of the method of service. “Business day” is defined in CPR 6.2(b) as any day except Saturday, Sunday, a bank holiday, Good Friday, or Christmas Day. This uniform rule replaced the previous method specific table from October 2008.

The 4:30 PM cut off is critical for instant methods under CPR 6.26. It does not apply to claim forms under CPR 6.14. The fax row was deleted from CPR 7.5 effective 1 October 2022 (S.I. 2022/783) but remains available for other documents under CPR 6.26.

The claimant must complete the service step before midnight on the calendar day four months after the date of issue (domestic service) or six months for service out of the jurisdiction. The 4 month deadline is measured by when the step is completed, not the deemed service date. If an issue date is provided, the calculator warns if the service step falls outside this window.

A Part 36 offer must specify a relevant period of not less than 21 days. The offer is made when served on the offeree. Payment of accepted offers: 14 days from acceptance. Clarification requests: within 7 days. After a split trial, acceptance cannot occur earlier than 7 clear days after judgment on the preliminary issue.

Standard deadline: 21 days from the decision. Statutory appeals under PD 52D: 28 days. Planning Court JR permission refusals: 7 days. Oral reconsideration of paper refusal: 7 days. S.I. 2025/893 introduced an express deadline for seeking permission from the Court of Appeal to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Directions questionnaire: 14 days (small claims) or 28 days (fast/intermediate/multi track) after allocation notice. DQ failure triggers a 7 day further notice, then automatic strike out. Pre trial checklists: typically 8 weeks before trial window. Parties may agree extensions of up to 28 days for non hearing steps (r.3.8(4)). CMC and PTR deadlines require 7 days’ notice.

Bank holiday data is fetched live from the GOV.UK API (gov.uk/bank-holidays.json) under the Open Government Licence v3.0. The API covers England & Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland separately. The calculator also accounts for additional court closure dates during the Christmas period.

Christmas Day and Good Friday are always treated as non business days under CPR 2.8(4), independently of the bank holiday API data. Court offices (PD 2A) are closed on Saturdays, Sundays, Good Friday, Christmas Day, bank holidays, and additional Christmas period days. Normal hours: 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM.

High Court vacations (2026): Christmas (c. 20 Dec to 11 Jan), Easter (2 to 13 April), Whitsun (23 May to 1 June), Summer (1 Aug to 30 Sep), Christmas 2026/27 (22 Dec to 10 Jan). These apply to the High Court and Court of Appeal only; County Courts and tribunals sit year round.

Employment Tribunal claim deadlines include the “3 months less 1 day” calculation (corresponding date rule per Pruden v Cunard), ACAS Early Conciliation stop the clock mechanism (s.207B ERA 1996, two step process), and all major ET1 claim types. The rules engine contains structured data for 9 ET claim types.

Employment Rights Act 2025: from no earlier than 1 October 2026, ET time limits double from 3 months to 6 months. As of April 2026, the 3 month limit still applies. A date activated toggle is built into the engine.

Includes Tax Tribunal (FTT Tax Chamber) with 30 day appeal deadlines by tax type, the Martland three stage late appeal test, and all procedural deadlines; Immigration Tribunal (FTT IAC) with 14/28 day appeal deadlines and bail provisions; and FCA regulatory timelines including decision notice referrals, FOS complaint deadlines, and settlement scheme timings.

S.I. 2025/106 (6 April 2025): new SLAPP strike out power, complete replacement of CPR Part 25. S.I. 2025/893 (October 2025): CPR 2.8(5) wording updated, new Supreme Court permission deadline. S.I. 2026/97 (from 6 April 2026): new Part 2 provisions for Online Procedure Rules, non party disclosure (r.31.12A), Part 45 corrections. No changes to core time limits in Parts 2.8, 6.14, 6.26, 7.5, 10.3, 15.4, 36, or 52 were made in any 2025 or 2026 amendments.

• Civil Procedure Rules (legislation.gov.uk)
• Practice Directions supplementing the CPR (justice.gov.uk)
• GOV.UK Bank Holidays API (Open Government Licence v3.0)
• HMCTS court closure dates (judiciary.uk)
• Limitation Act 1980 (legislation.gov.uk)
• Pre Action Protocols (justice.gov.uk)
• Employment Rights Act 1996 and Equality Act 2010
• Tribunal Procedure (FTT) Rules 2009 and 2014
• Financial Services and Markets Act 2000
• S.I. 2025/106, S.I. 2025/893, S.I. 2025/1229, S.I. 2026/97