Family lawyers who fail to keep enough cases out of court should be investigated and stripped of their legal aid contracts, the National Audit Office (NAO) has said.


Research by the spending watchdog found that one in three divorcing clients had not been offered mediation. Of those, 42% said they would have been willing to try it, which the NAO calculated would have saved £10 million in legal aid.



It said there was scope to improve the value for money achieved from the legal aid budget through increased take-up of mediation. However, the NAO warned that there may be financial disincentives to solicitors recommending this course, as they would get paid less where a case settled out of court.



The watchdog called on the Legal Services Commission (LSC) to remove these disincentives and publicise the benefits of mediation. It recommended that the commission investigate solicitors who have significantly lower numbers of mediated cases to find out the reasons why and, where the reasons given are unsatisfactory, terminate their contracts.



The NAO said the LSC should also revise its funding structure to lessen the fee disparity for not-

for-profit and solicitor mediators, who are paid an average of £611 and £463 respectively.



Emma Harte, chairwoman of family law group Resolution's ADR (alternative dispute resolution) committee, said generally solicitors considered the best course of action for their clients and encouraged alternative ways of resolving disputes where possible, but it should be borne in mind that there will be cases where court may be the best approach. She added it was right for the LSC to follow up firms with a high level of cases going to court.



The ADR Group and the Family Mediators Association said the LSC's updated proposals on strategy and the fee structure for public funding of mediation removed incentives to mediate family disputes.



Catherine Baksi