Is serving a claim form on the last day still valid service?

You have an issued claim form and have just realized that the limitation service period of four months, as stipulated by UK law, is set to expire today. The pressing question that arises is whether you still have sufficient time to serve the claim form validly before the expiration of this crucial deadline.

The Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) 7.5 delineate the various methods available for the service of a claim. Specifically, it states that when a claim is being served within the jurisdiction of England and Wales, the claimant is required to complete the prescribed steps necessary for service before midnight on the calendar day that falls exactly four months after the date of issue of the claim form. This means that the claimant must ensure that all procedural requirements are met within this timeframe.

However, it is important to note a significant aspect of the service process as outlined in CPR 6.14, which provides guidance on how to calculate the date of deemed service. According to this rule, the deemed service date is established as the second business day following the completion of the step required under CPR 7.5, irrespective of the method of service employed. This 'deemed date of service' is calculated without regard to whether the claim actually arrived at its destination or when it may have arrived.

To illustrate this with a practical example, let us say your claim form was issued on 22 July 2025. Under the provisions of CPR 7.5, you would have until midnight on 22 October 2025 to take the necessary steps for service. If you decide to instruct a process server to deliver the claim form by hand on that very day, 22 October 2025, CPR 6.14 specifies that the claim form would not be considered 'deemed served' until 24 October 2025. This raises the critical question: is the claim form served within the limitation period or not?

Prior to the amendments made in 2008, there was a requirement that the deemed date of service needed to fall within the four-month period to comply with CPR 7.5. However, following the amendments, the rules now stipulate that the claimant must only complete the necessary steps for service within the four-month window following the issuance of the claim form.

The case of Jones v Chichester Harbour Conservancy and others [2017] is particularly relevant to this discussion. This case examined the validity of service when the claim form was served within the four-month limitation period as per CPR 7.5, but the deemed date of service, according to CPR 6.14, fell outside this timeframe. In this instance, Master McCloud ruled that the claim form had indeed been served in a timely manner. She articulated that the appropriate method for determining whether a claim form had been validly served within the requisite timeframe was to ascertain whether the claimant had completed the necessary steps outlined in CPR 7.5 within the specified limit. Furthermore, she explained that the purpose of establishing a 'deemed date of service' under CPR 6.14 was to provide clarity for the defendant regarding the timeline for acknowledging or responding to the claim.

Additionally, the case of Learning Curve (NE) Group Limited -v- Richard Huw Lewis & Anor [2025] further reinforces this, supporting that the completion of the required step under CPR 7.5 before the midnight deadline is sufficient for valid service, regardless of when the claim is deemed to have been served under CPR 6.14.

In summary, as long as the necessary step under CPR 7.5 has been completed before midnight on the expiration date, the service of the Claim Form is considered valid. This holds true regardless of the deemed date of service determined by CPR 6.14, allowing claimants a fair opportunity to ensure that their claims are properly served within the legal framework established by the Civil Procedure Rules.