Legal aid minister Jonathan Djanogly has proposed that family solicitors should receive £150 to provide legal help to clients who engage in mediation, to demonstrate the government’s commitment to alternative dispute resolution.

Speaking at the National Family Mediation conference last week, Djanogly (pictured) announced that where a party who is eligible for legal aid enters mediation, a fixed fee of £150 will be available to their solicitor for the provision of legal advice during the mediation and immediately afterwards, to formalise and give legal effect to any agreement reached.

He said the fee will be payable whether or not the mediation is successful.

Under the planned reforms outlined in the government’s green paper on legal aid, most private law family proceedings will be removed from the scope of legal aid, other than cases where domestic violence or forced marriage is involved, and child abduction cases.

Djanogly said the green paper recognises the importance government places on alternative dispute resolution, which can help people avoid ‘long drawn out legal battles that can be painful and expensive’.

He said: ‘In the future, as a rule, we do not propose that the taxpayer should be funding routine divorce or ancillary relief cases, or disputes about the arrangements for children.’

But he said the government would continue to provide mediation in relation to disputes over property, finance and arrangements concerning children which have arisen because of family breakdown.

In addition, he said the government had tightened the rules relating to when family solicitors will be able to exempt legally aided clients from attending meetings to learn about mediation.

‘As a consequence, more people will be able to learn about mediation, and a proportion of them will go on to agree settlements away from the courts. This would be a good outcome,’ Djanogly said.

David Emmerson, chair of Resolution’s legal aid committee, said the government was ‘rushing ahead’ with support for mediation as the only solution to the problems of the family justice system.

‘We believe that each family needs a process that is right for them – that can be mediation, but might also be collaborative law, parent information and in some cases, court,’ he said.

Emmerson added: ‘We are deeply concerned that government will narrow the gateway to court to such an extent that those families who need it cannot access it.’