MoJ announces “integrated” mediation for small claims

On Tuesday 25 July 2023, the Ministry of Justice published its long awaited response to its consultation on increasing the use of mediation in the civil justice system. This confirmed the intention to expand the small claims mediation service for specified money disputes up to £10,000 by, in Lord Bellamy KC’s words, “integrating mediation for small civil claims [to] create valuable court capacity, freeing up time for judges and reducing pressures on the courts.”

HMCTs intends to expand the Small Claims Mediation Service (SCMS) by recruiting and training additional mediators and updating necessary technology. The SCMS has been providing voluntary mediation since 2007, settling over half of claims referred to it each year within weeks of starting the case.

By integrating mediation for civil claims up to £10,000, the government is going further than the Civil Justice Council’s recommendation for claims up to £500, supporting even more people to reach a resolution away from court.

Henrietta Jackson-Stops, Partner at IPOS, welcomes this commitment by the MoJ: “Currently it takes at least 6 months from issue to trial for a small claim. Anything that helps parties reach resolution quickly and cost-effectively is to be welcomed. There are those that say that this short one hour telephone process isn't mediation but I'd say that it's a form of mediation that, with it's own name, "small claims mediation" or something similar can be easily distinguished from commercial mediation or workplace mediation or SEN mediation. As long as HMCTs is able to properly resource and train its in-house mediators to provide this service I am in favour of its expansion.”