Campaigners have expressed disappointment at the lack of immediate action after the government opted to consult on removing the three-year limitation period on child sex abuse cases.
The Independent Inquiry into Childhood Sexual Abuse (IICSA) recommended last year that the limit be scrapped altogether for civil claims. In its response to the inquiry report, the Home Office this week accepted this was a critical issue but opted to consult later this year on strengthening judicial guidance in these cases. Ministers will set out options to reform limitation law as part of the consultation.
The Home Office response added: ‘The government recognises, as reinforced by the inquiry, that it might take years, and in many cases decades, for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse to come forward and feel ready to disclose their trauma.’ It noted that the current three-year limit ‘is not absolute’ and that Section 33 of the Limitation Act allows the court to disapply the time limit if it considers that it is just and equitable to do so.
But lawyers arguing for immediate change say that further consultation is unnecessary given that the inquiry’s recommendation.
Kim Harrison, executive committee member with the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, said: ‘The limitation period is a needless legal hurdle put in front of survivors, who are forced to endure the stress and uncertainty of justifying why they have not brought a claim sooner. It is well established that survivors of childhood sexual abuse nearly always bring their claims late. They are a unique and particularly vulnerable category of claimant and this desperately needs to be recognised.’
The government was also non-committal about the IICSA recommendation for a national redress scheme for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.
The Home Office acknowledged a scheme was needed but said the details, including eligibility, types of redress available and the application process, would be considered following further engagement with victims and survivors, third sector organisations, local authorities, insurers and lawyers.
In its report, IICSA said the current limitation period, which applies to all personal injury cases, was not designed with the needs of sexual abuse victims in mind. Researchers found the average time for victims to disclose sexual abuse was 26 years, and the starting point was that their claims were deemed too late and they needed to apply to the court to allow them to proceed. This brought a further and unnecessary burden to what was already a difficult process.
The inquiry found that a number of defendant solicitors and insurers accepted that limitation was a barrier to justice for victims and were broadly open to some form of reform, provided that any change preserved the defendant’s right to a fair trial.
