By David Healey, Senior Solicitor · Carter & Carter Solicitors · March 2026

She slipped on a wet warehouse floor eighteen months ago. Bruised her hip, sprained her wrist, took two weeks off work. She reported it at the time. She saw the GP. She thought about calling a solicitor — but life got in the way, then months passed, and then she assumed the moment had gone.

When she eventually did make enquiries, she had eighteen months of her three-year window remaining. Her medical records were intact. The accident report still existed. Two colleagues remembered the incident clearly. There was a very real claim to be made — and it nearly didn’t happen because she’d convinced herself it was too late.

This is one of the most common reasons valid workplace injury claims never get made. Not because the law has closed the door. Because the worker assumed it had.

How long do you actually have to make a workplace injury claim?

The Limitation Act 1980 sets the standard time limit for personal injury claims in England and Wales at three years. For most workplace accidents — a slip, a fall, an injury caused by faulty equipment — that three years runs from the date the accident happened. So if you were injured in March 2024, you have until March 2027 to start a claim.

Three years is a much longer window than most injured workers realise. It is long enough that the majority of people who assume they have missed it are still within time when they actually check. The limitation period is not a month. It is not six months. It is three years — and it runs from the date of the accident, not from the date you first thought about calling a solicitor.

The practical advice is always to act as soon as possible — evidence is easier to obtain and witnesses are easier to contact when the injury is recent. But the legal advice is equally clear: if you are still within three years of the accident, a claim is almost certainly open to you.

If you’re getting close to three years, will a solicitor still take your case?

This is the honest part. The law gives you three years — but in practice, most solicitors will not take on a claim that has only a matter of weeks or months left on the clock. The reason is straightforward: to protect your position legally, they would need to issue protective court proceedings immediately to stop the limitation period expiring, and then continue preparing the case under significant time pressure. That is a difficult and risky way to run a claim, and many firms simply decline rather than take it on.

It does not mean your case is over. It means you should call us now rather than wait any longer. If there is enough time remaining to build the case properly — to gather evidence, take statements, obtain medical records, and instruct experts if needed — we will tell you honestly whether we can help. If the clock is so tight that we cannot act responsibly, we will tell you that too, rather than take your case on and risk a rushed job.

The message is not “leave it as late as you like.” The message is: if you still have time and you have not yet called, call now. The closer you are to the three-year mark, the more urgent that conversation becomes.

Does waiting make your claim weaker?

Yes — in practical terms, waiting does make a claim harder to pursue. This is the honest answer, and it is why acting as soon as possible after an injury is always the right advice. But harder is not the same as impossible, and for many claims the key evidence survives for well over a year.

Medical records from the day of the injury or shortly after — A&E records, GP notes, physiotherapy referrals — are typically held for many years and are obtainable throughout the limitation period. The accident book entry, if one was made, should be retained by your employer for at least three years under RIDDOR 2013. Witness statements can still be taken, though memories fade and colleagues move on. CCTV footage is the most time-sensitive evidence and is often overwritten after a matter of weeks — which is why, if you are considering a claim and the incident was captured on camera, you should request preservation immediately.

The message is not “don’t worry, waiting is fine.” It is “don’t let the fact that you waited stop you from calling. Most of the evidence you need is probably still there.”

Are there any situations where the three-year clock doesn’t apply in the same way?

There are two specific circumstances worth knowing about. Where the injured person was under 18 at the time of the accident, the three-year clock does not begin until their 18th birthday — giving them until the age of 21 to bring a claim. A parent or guardian can also bring a claim on a child’s behalf before they turn 18, and given that evidence degrades over time, acting sooner is always the better approach.

Where the injured worker lacks mental capacity — due to a serious head injury, for example — the three-year clock is suspended until capacity is recovered. Fatal accident claims under the Fatal Accidents Act 1976 carry their own time limits, typically three years from the date of death. These cases require specialist advice and the earlier that advice is taken the better.

For most injured workers, however, the position is straightforward: three years from the date of the accident, with the strong practical advice to act as early as possible. If you are in any doubt about your position — whether time has passed, whether your circumstances are straightforward, or whether you might be too close to the deadline for a solicitor to help — a free call is all it takes to find out.

What should you do if you think you might still have a claim?

Call a specialist solicitor and tell them the date of the accident, the nature of your injury, and whether you reported it at the time. Those three pieces of information are enough to establish whether you are within the limitation period and whether a claim is worth pursuing. The call is free and takes minutes.

While you are thinking about it, gather what you can. Any medical records you hold relating to the injury. The accident book reference number if you have it. Contact details for any colleagues who witnessed the incident or the conditions that caused it. Any photographs you took at the time. Even a written note of what happened, when, and how, is useful — memory is more reliable now than it will be in another year.

The most important thing is not to let another month pass on the basis that it is probably too late. Make the call. Find out. The answer may surprise you.