MEDIATION: doubts raised that Manchester model would work throughout court system


The Courts Service has decided to put an in-house small-claims mediator in every court area in England and Wales from April 2008, the Gazette has learned.



But the rollout comes amid concerns that the Courts Service is pressing ahead with the scheme based on the experience of just one man - James Rustidge, an ex-police officer who has run a pilot in Manchester since June 2005 - and without sufficient evidence that it is cost-effective.



When the Gazette broke the story that the Courts Service intended to develop a small-claims mediation service based on its Manchester pilot, the plan appeared to be that a further set of nine trials would be set up to test the idea properly (see [2006] Gazette, 14 September, 1).



The trials have barely got under way, according to Whitehall, but the Courts Service now says it will institute the service nationally from April next year. It has also decided only to advertise to internal candidates for the mediator posts.



A Courts Service spokesman told the Gazette that the model 'was fully tested and evaluated' and that the early signs from the second round of in-house mediator implementations are 'good'. The Courts Service also insisted that the Manchester model was chosen 'as the better service for our users - not only more cost-effective but with better customer service feedback as well'.



But the figures it is using to justify the cost-benefits appear to only make sense if the mediator's roster was packed every working day.



Val Reid, alternative dispute resolution policy officer for the Advice Services Alliance, said in the alliance's newsletter earlier this year that government research reports into pilot schemes at Exeter, Manchester and Reading county courts 'do not really provide adequate evidence to support the enthusiastic plans to roll out the Manchester small-claims mediation model throughout the court system'.



One of the researchers into the Manchester pilot, Margaret Doyle, agreed that, on a cost basis, the evidence is not there to support the move. She said the Courts Service was counting on a higher throughput of cases than was seen in Manchester. The Courts Service admitted that a high throughput of cases was needed to make the model viable.



On paper, the Manchester trial achieved excellent results in terms of customer satisfaction, and pioneered the use of remote (telephone) mediation.



Rupert White