How to Claim for Pothole Damage from the Council

Not automatically. A highway authority in England or Wales has a statutory duty to maintain the roads it is responsible for under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980. It is liable for pothole damage only where it breached that duty, and Section 58 gives it a defence if it can show it took the care reasonably required to keep the road safe.

In practice the authority will look at when the road was last inspected, whether the defect was recorded or reported before your incident, and whether any repair was carried out within its own published timescale. A defect that appeared between reasonable inspections and was not reported may support the defence. A defect that was recorded and left may not. Neither point decides the claim on its own; the authority's own records for the location are what matter.

Gather evidence, identify the responsible authority, report the pothole, submit a written claim, and keep every reply. The order matters because the earliest steps are the ones you cannot repeat later.

You need to show four things: the defect, the damage, the cost, and the link between them. Causation is where many claims fall down, so anything that ties the damage to that pothole on that day is valuable.

Keep everything together in one folder with a short timeline. The valid claim checklist walks through each item and the common gaps.

There is no legal minimum depth. Many English authorities use an investigatory level of around 40mm, following the UK Roads Leadership Group's Well-managed Highway Infrastructure code of practice, but each authority sets its own levels and some use different figures for different road types. A pothole below the authority's investigatory level is harder to claim for, not impossible: the depth is one factor among the character of the road, the traffic it carries and what a reasonable person would expect to find.

The claim goes to the highway authority for that road, which is not always the council. Sending it to the wrong body costs weeks.

Phone numbers are taken from GOV.UK and National Highways on 13 September 2026. The who is responsible guide and the claim routes directory go into more detail. Fixtyer's free check identifies the likely authority from the location.

It costs nothing to write to an authority, so the question is whether your evidence is strong enough to be worth your time. A claim with dated photographs, a measured defect, an itemised invoice and a record showing the authority had the defect on its books before your incident is worth submitting. A claim with a description and a receipt is likely to be refused under Section 58.

Refusal rates vary widely between authorities and between years. The RAC found that 13 of the 17 councils that paid any compensation in 2023 refused more than three quarters of claims. That is why this guide spends so much time on evidence and records: they are the only part of the process you control.

Claiming yourself is the cheapest route and the one that keeps all of any payout. The others cost money, a percentage, or your no-claims discount.

The council claim or car insurance guide works through the insurance decision in detail.

A refusal is a response, not a verdict. Ask the authority in writing for the inspection policy, completed inspection records, defect reports and repair logs for that stretch of road covering the 12 months before your incident. Road-condition records are usually handled under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, and the authority must respond within 20 working days. Compare the last inspection date and any recorded reports against the reasons in the refusal letter and the authority's own policy timescales. If the records do not support the refusal, resubmit with that comparison set out.

If the authority still refuses and the sum justifies it, you can issue a claim in the small claims track through Money Claim Online. Court fees are set by HM Courts and Tribunals Service and scale with the amount claimed; check the current fee table (form EX50) before filing, and remember that a court weighs the same Section 58 factors the authority relied on.

The legal time limit for property damage is six years from the date of the damage under the Limitation Act 1980. Response times are set by each authority rather than by law. National Highways publishes its own targets: it aims to acknowledge a claim within 21 days and to decide liability within 90 days of acknowledging a fully completed form. Councils vary, and claim volumes peak after winter, so a claim submitted in March may take longer than one submitted in September.

Claim as soon as you can regardless of the limit. Evidence is stronger, the pothole may still be there to photograph, and inspection records are easier to obtain. The claim timeline guide sets out what to expect at each stage.

For 2025-26 the Department for Transport rated 13 of England's 154 highway authorities RED for local road maintenance, 125 AMBER and 16 GREEN. The ratings assess how well each authority manages its network as a whole. They are useful context when you check an authority's inspection policy, but they do not establish notice or liability for a specific pothole, and they cover England only.

Fixtyer publishes the full 2025-26 table, a report for each council and the underlying dataset under the Open Government Licence.