A bid to fix the level of legal fees paid for all ‘fast-track’ cases has failed, the Gazette can reveal.

The deadline for a mediation process conducted by the Civil Justice Council, which attempted to reach a deal between insurers and solicitors representing claimants and defendants, has passed without a consensus being found.

The talks were set up at the behest of Lord Justice Jackson, who has made clear his enthusiasm for introducing fixed fees. They were intended to produce industry-agreed fixed costs for all ‘fast-track’ road traffic accident, industrial disease, employer’s liability and public liability cases worth up to £25,000 in compensation.

The Civil Justice Council was given just four months to assist the group of 13 representatives from the legal profession and insurance industry to reach a deal, and the Gazette understands that the parties did not come close to doing so.

The council has provided Jackson with a briefing on what was achieved, including a review of statistical evidence.

Motor Accident Solicitors Society (MASS) chairman John Spencer said the process had helped ‘claimant lawyers get across to Lord Justice Jackson all areas of concern with regard to fixed costs’. The necessary evidence needs to be gathered and analysed before proceeding, he said, and while understanding Jackson’s desire to make progress, ‘MASS has concerns that the time allowed by his timetable has made this impossible’.

The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers walked out of the talks in September, before later returning. Chief executive Denise Kitchener said: ‘To attempt to rush through a new mediation about an issue which has not been properly explored or agreed, and which could have such a profound effect on injured people, really was a step too far.’

Speaking at the MASS annual conference earlier this month, Conservative shadow justice minister Henry Bellingham said he was ‘personally quite uncomfortable with the mediation process’ and that it would have been better to wait until a post-report consultation on implementation.

Jackson’s final report is due to be released in mid-January.