The Ministry of Justice has just announced the way mediation will be incorporated into the civil justice process.
All small claims will be automatically referred to mediation. This is not “compulsory mediation” as you cannot make people agree. It is a requirement to engage with a mediator. Further analysis is needed on how this should best be delivered – probably by a combination of in-house Court mediators and civil and commercial mediators It will start for cases valued up to £5,000. When that becomes established it may apply to cases up to £10,000 – the proposed new upper limit for the small claims track. Mediation is currently also used on a voluntary basis for much higher value disputes.
As an accredited commercial mediator and solicitor with MHHP Law I’d say this is a welcome first step. I agree that mediation should not be made compulsory and this is a good opportunity to develop understanding of how helpful mediation can be as a way for resolving disputes. This reform will give SME’s, corporations and individuals an effective way to resolve their ‘low value high maintenance’ disputes swiftly and cheaply: and at a fraction of the cost of litigation. It will show how easily the process can be applied for higher value more complex disputes.
