CPR 2.8 Deadline Calculator: Clear Days and the 5-Day Rule

CPR 2.8 tells you how to count a period stated in days. The length of the period and the date from which it runs come from the relevant rule, practice direction, judgment or order.

First identify the number of days required and the date on which the period legally starts, or the event from which you must count backwards. CPR 2.8 then sets out which days count:

CPR 2.8 does not apply to every deadline connected with a court case. CPR 2.1 sets out the scope of the Civil Procedure Rules. Different rules apply in Scotland, Northern Ireland, family proceedings and some specialist regimes. The Scottish court-holiday guide, for example, deals with SCTS closure dates.

Start with the effective trigger or event date

A period may run from service of a document, the date of an order or another specified event. Use the date recognised by the governing provision, which may not be the date on which someone sent or received a document.

For service, CPR Part 6 contains the relevant rules. CPR 6.14 sets the date on which a claim form is treated as served. CPR 6.26 provides a table for other documents, based on how they are delivered. Another Part, practice direction or order may set a different rule.

Establish the effective service date before applying CPR 2.8. Use an email timestamp, postal receipt or filing-system record as evidence of what happened, then apply the applicable service rule.

If an order states the deadline as a calendar date and time, use that stated deadline. CPR 2.9 asks courts to include those details where practicable.

Which days are clear days?

The first day of a period is excluded. Whether the date at the other end is also excluded depends on how the period is expressed.

For notice before a hearing, the hearing date is excluded because it is the event used to define the period. By contrast, the example in CPR 2.8 of particulars of claim due within 14 days after service excludes the service date but includes the day on which compliance is due. Service on 2 October produces a deadline of 16 October.

In the calculator, Use court rules sets which dates count and shows them under Dates to include. Check those dates against the rule you are applying. The court settings guide explains the jurisdiction and direction controls.

Do clear days include weekends and bank holidays?

It depends on the length of the specified period. Under CPR 2.8, Saturdays, Sundays, bank holidays, Christmas Day and Good Friday do not count when the period is five days or less. For a longer period, those days remain in the count unless another applicable rule says otherwise.

The five-day threshold applies to the period stated in the rule, practice direction, judgment or order before any excluded days are taken out.

This can make a five-day notice period require earlier service than a six-day one. For a hearing on Tuesday 4 August 2026, compare these assumed periods. Both exclude the hearing date and the date service takes effect:

Latest effective service is Monday 27 July 2026 for five clear days or Tuesday 28 July 2026 for six. The six-clear-day period permits service a day later because the weekend counts. These are alternative assumed periods; check the applicable rule or order for the period your document requires.

A substitute weekday shown on the England and Wales bank-holiday calendar is a bank holiday. An ordinary weekday between Christmas and New Year is not excluded under CPR 2.8(4) merely because an office chooses to close.

What if the court office is closed on the last day?

CPR 2.8(5) applies when an act must be done at the court office and the period ends on a day when that office is closed. The act is in time if it is completed on the next day the court office is open.

This adjusts the final day; it does not remove weekends and closures from the whole count. Confirm that the act must be done at the court office before relying on this adjustment.

Example: three clear days before a hearing

Assume that a provision requires at least three clear days' notice before a hearing on Tuesday 4 August 2026. The question is the latest date on which service can legally take effect.

The latest effective service date is Wednesday 29 July 2026. Thursday, Friday and Monday are the three clear days between service and the hearing.

To reproduce the example:

Open the three-clear-day example in the calculator.

The timeline lets you check the three counted days and both excluded endpoints. Download the result and settings as a PDF if you need to keep a record of the count. The result is the latest effective service date under these assumptions. Apply the service rule separately to work out when to send or deliver the document. For a full walkthrough using CPR 23.7's three-day minimum, see the England and Wales notice use case.

Same hearing, five clear days or six?

To try the five-versus-six-day comparison above, keep the hearing date of 4 August 2026 and Direction set to Backward. Change Number to five or six and check the counted dates:

• Open the five-clear-day example: 27 July.
• Open the six-clear-day example: 28 July.

The difference comes from the five-day threshold. Adding one day to the specified period changes which dates count; it does not add one working day.

Sources

• CPR Part 2, rules 2.1 and 2.8–2.10 — scope, clear days, the short-period rule, court-office adjustment and the calendar-date requirement; checked 7 October 2026
• CPR Part 6, the service and deemed-service provisions that supply the trigger date
• GOV.UK bank holidays for England and Wales, current and substitute dates