The number of civil and commercial mediations has grown by one-third and their value by almost a half over the past two years, an authoritative study reveals this week.

The Mediation Audit 2012, the dispute resolution body CEDR’s fifth biennial survey of civil and commercial mediators’ views, says that the annual number of mediations has risen from 6,000 to 8,000 since the last survey, and their value by 47%, from £5.1bn to £7.5bn.

The findings came from 238 mediators, with a parallel survey of lawyers. Annual fee income from mediation totals about £20m, with 90% of cases settling. Experience and status remain the key factors in choosing a mediator. Graham Massie (pictured), CEDR’s director of consultancy, said the market continues to be dominated by about 100 mediators - 70% of them lawyers - who are involved in around 85% of all commercial cases outside formal schemes.

The most successful mediator reported average earnings of £8,500 per case on a workload of 80 cases, adding up to £720,000 in a year. Experienced mediators reported their average fees for a day-long mediation had gone up 24% over the past two years from £3,450 in 2010 to £4,279 in 2012.

However, the vast majority of newer mediators were doing no more than four mediations a year, with fees increasing by 9% from £1,390 in 2010 to £1,517 in 2012. Some complained that experienced mediators were ‘hogging all the work’.

Support for a single training standard and a single regulatory body is showing signs of rising after a significant dip in previous audits. Massie said the main concern is over who would do the regulating, with only one in three mediators supporting the Civil Mediation Council as the appropriate body.