Government encourages parties to mediate

The Cabinet Office published on 7 May 2020 a paper entitled "Guidance on responsible contractual behaviour in the performance and enforcement of contracts impacted by the Covid-19 emergency". The main guidance of the paper was that parties to contracts should act responsibly and fairly, support the response to Covid-19 and protect jobs and the economy. However, what is of particular interest to the mediation community, is the Government's recognition that disputes "especially a “plethora of disputes”, can be destructive to good contractual outcomes and the effective operation of markets" and the Government's subsequent strong encouragement to "parties to seek to resolve any emerging contractual issues responsibly – through negotiation, mediation or other alternative or fast-track dispute resolution – before these escalate into formal intractable disputes".

It is encouraging to see, after the apparent fall into abeyance of the Dispute Resolution Commitment, Government talking about mediation again. It is hoped that this, together with the support of the judiciary and leading legal figures (see this post), might be the first stages of a long overdue change in attitudes to ADR as an effective and efficient means of dispute resolution.