Last week, the Home Office published its response to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse's (IICSA’s) recommendations, including the recommendation that the time bar be abolished for abuse survivors. The Home Office responded that it would ‘consult on strengthening existing judicial guidance… and set out options to reform limitation law’.
However, Kim Harrison, executive committee member of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, said a consultation was ‘completely unnecessary.
‘It is deplorable that the law in England and Wales expects survivors to bring their cases within three years of the abuse, or within three years of turning 18 if they were abused as a child, especially when the Scottish law has already abolished the time limit for abuse survivors. And it is unacceptable that the government is not taking action now.’