The Courts Service is planning a major expansion of in-court mediation by April 2007 as part of a drive to cut the number of defended small claims, the Gazette can reveal.


The service is to set up nine more pilot court-funded mediators - probably located in the larger courts - after a successful trial at Manchester County Court. The mediation will be free to the parties involved, meaning the only costs are the initial court fees. The initiative is part of the service's attempts to meet a target of a 5% reduction in defended claims.



The Manchester pilot's success comes after the failure of another mediation trial at Central London County Court, in which parties were automatically referred to mediation but had the opportunity to opt out. When given the choice, eight out of ten parties in cases referred opted out.



Jeremy Tagg, head of the Courts Service's alternative dispute resolution (ADR) branch, told the Gazette that though the London scheme had not been a great success, the Manchester results were 'the way to go ahead' with bringing down case numbers as well as costs to users.



The Manchester pilot has run since June 2005. James Rustidge, an ex-police officer, has settled 104 cases through mediation at the court, out of 121 cases referred. The Manchester process works by judges referring cases on to Mr Rustidge. The service said the judges involved in the pilot referred a quarter of their cases for mediation, and half of those then went forward with mediation. There was also the option for parties to self-refer for mediation.



Mr Tagg told the Gazette this pointed to a possibility that a quarter of small claims could be handled out of court. Some 86% of the cases referred were settled in one day - Mr Tagg said a particularly surprising result was the success of claims dealt with by telephone, which met with an 87% settlement rate.



This is good news for backers of ADR, practitioners said. Anthony Glaister, chairman of the Association of Northern Mediators, said the expansion has enormous attractions. 'It's good news because it encourages people to use mediation,' he said, 'and you're taking cases out of the system, which pleases the Treasury.'



Mr Glaister also reassured the legal profession that rolling out the pilot schemes would not 'take money out of lawyers' hands'.



Phillip Howell-Richardson, a mediator at SJ Berwin, also welcomed the move, saying it is an 'exciting way' to deliver justice to a large number of users. But, he added, the mediators should have 'sufficient quality in their training and support to ensure the success of Manchester'.



A spokeswoman for the Law Society said: 'The Law Society supports mediation as a way of resolving disputes before they reach court. Small-claims often involve litigants-in-person and without a solicitor's advice there is little room for early settlement, so mediation may be particularly helpful for these people.'



Rupert White