Small Claims Mediation

A view from England & Wales

Simon Madden

Head of Civil Justice Transformation

& Dispute Resolution Policy

Civil Procedure Rules

Overriding Objective

“encouraging the parties to use an alternative

dispute resolution procedure if the court considers that appropriate and facilitating the use of such procedure”

Facilitating Court Mediation

Development of Low Cost Mediation

Services

• In-house Small Claims Mediation Service for

claims below £5,000

•National Mediation Helpline for higher value

cases

National Mediation Helpline

•Deals mainly with claims over £5,000

•Mediation offered by commercial mediators

•Usually legally represented

•Legal Costs can be very high

•Real incentive for parties to settle early

•Time-limited mediation (3 or 4 hours)

•Standard scale of fees

•Settlement rates of 66%

Small Claims

•Claims below £5000 - usually unrepresented

•Low or nil legal costs

•Cheap to issue a claim in court - from £25

•Majority of cases go to a hearing

•3 mediation pilots in 2005/06

•Pilot at Manchester County Court had highest

settlement rate and customer satisfaction

•Roll-out across all England & Wales

Small Claims Mediation Service

• Currently offered free to users

• Almost all types of claims have been successfully

mediated

• Majority of claims settle over the telephone

• 20 small claims mediators now appointed

• More than 10,000 mediations conducted in past 12

months

• Very high satisfaction rates

SCMS - How it works

• Parties tick box on court form

• Judges refer parties to service

• Parties receive invitation - voluntary

• Parties phone mediator

• Mediator arranges date and time

• Most mediations (>98%) by telephone

• Settlement rate: 73%

SCMS: Customer satisfaction (1)

How satisfied were you with the following aspects of your contact with the Small Claims Mediation Service? Satisfied/

Very satisfied

Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied

Dissatisfied/ very

dissatisfied Written information received about the service

94.5% 4.7% 0.9%

How easy was it to get in touch with the service

91.0% 6.0% 3.0%

Explanation of how the service could help me out

95.5% 4.0% 0.5%

Helpfulness of the mediator 97.5% 1.6% 0.9% Answered question 5092

SCMS: Customer satisfaction (2) How satisfied were you with the following aspects of the mediation?

Satisfied/ Very

satisfied

Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied

Dissatisfied/ very

dissatisfied Your opportunity to participate and express your views

96.0% 3.0% 1.0%

The time allowed for the mediation 94.7% 3.7% 1.6% The professionalism of the mediator 98.1% 1.3% 0.7%

Answered question 5083 Would you be prepared to use the mediation service again?

Response Percent Response Count

Yes 94.4% 4772 No 1.6% 86 Don't know 3.9% 195

Answered question 5053

Customer FeedbackInitially very sceptical due to the intractable stance of the other side. It proceeded well

via telephone conversations and quickly resolved to my satisfaction

As I am 68 years old, it would have been difficult for me to travel from London to

Manchester. The settlement was accepted. Very easy to get in touch with the service,

the mediator was extremely helpful & pleasant.

Really good service, very fair and impartial. I hope I never have to use it again, but

would recommend it to anyone. I had been trying to sort out my case for 12 months. It

was all done in less than one hour to both parties' satisfaction.

Effective, warm, friendly, human and humane. Everything a court is not. A professional

service, which has been greatly appreciated by this claimant and one which I would

advise others to make full use of.

ed to my satisfaction.

SCMS: Next Steps

• Government wants to see increased uptake of

alternatives to court

• Build on the success of the service

• Possibly develop a pre-issue mediation model

• Consideration of mandatory mediation?