Mediation planned for county court claims up to £10,000

Compulsory mediation for all civil claims in England & Wales up to £10,000 in value, with limited exceptions, is proposed in a new UK Government consultation.

Under the scheme, which seeks to keep lower value disputes away from court, people would be referred automatically to a free hour-long telephone session with a professional mediator provided by HM Courts & Tribunals Service before their case could be progressed to a hearing.

Parties would speak separately to the mediator to see whether there is a common ground between them. If a solution is brokered, they will agree over the phone for it to be made legally binding through a settlement agreement.

Claims for less than £10,000 currently make up 61% of claims in the county court, but in only 21% of small claims do both parties agree to attend a mediation session with the courts' mediation service.

Ministers expect that up to 20,000 extra cases every year could be settled away from court under these proposals. This would also make up to 7,000 additional judicial sitting days available to help reduce waiting times for more complex cases.

They cite the example of Ontario, Canada, where automatic or mandatory mediation has been in place for over 20 years, and a recent survey of Ontario Bar Association members showed 90% of respondents in favour of expanding it further.

Claims against the Government would be exempt from the scheme. Views are invited on other categories that might be excluded. The £10,000 limit would not include personal injury or housing disrepair claims, which have a lower threshold.

Justice Minister Lord Bellamy QC commented: "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."

Access the consultation here. Responses are due by 4 October 2022.