Proposed reform of limitation in child abuse claimsThe Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), published in October 2022, recommended reform of the Limitation Act 1980 (LA 1980) in order to remove the three-year limitation period for personal injury claims brought by victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.On 5 February 2025 the government issued a press release announcing that the three-year time limit for such claims would be removed and, in accordance with the IICSA recommendation, the burden would be on the defendant to ‘show a fair trial cannot proceed if they intend to block one’. The press release states that ‘all cases brought will proceed unless the defendant proves that a fair hearing cannot take place, for example due to lack of evidence’. The intention of the reform is to ‘enable cases to be heard more easily, and protect victims from reliving their trauma’. See: LNB News 05/02/2025 35. The Ministry of Justice’s Consultation Response published the same day also states:‘removal