Mediation will become compulsory for civil claims up to £10,000 under proposals being unveiled by the government later today to divert more disputes away from court.

Parties will be referred automatically for a free hour-long telephone session with a professional mediator provided by HM Courts & Tribunals Service before their case can progress to a hearing. During the session, they will speak separately to the mediator to see if there is any ‘common ground’. If a solution is brokered, they will agree over the phone for the solution to be made legally binding through a settlement agreement.

The Ministry of Justice believes its proposals will result in up to 20,000 extra cases a year settling away from court and free up to 7,000 judicial sitting days for more complex cases.

Justice minister Lord Bellamy said: ‘Millions of businesses and individuals go through the civil courts every year and many of them simply do not need to. Mediation is often a quicker and cheaper way of resolving disputes and under our proposals this will be free of charge for claims up to £10,000. This could also help free up vital capacity in the civil courts to deal with more complex cases quicker.’

The consultation will be open for 10 weeks.

Dominic Raab signalled shortly after he was appointed justice secretary that he wanted to see alternative dispute resolution used more in civil cases. His department has already invested £8.7m in family mediation vouchers.

 

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