- It is plainly sensible for mediation to be made compulsory for lower value claims.
- There are however many more complexities in larger commercial claims, in terms of form, substance and participants; what’s more, mediation is already well used in such cases.
The Ministry of Justice published its response to a consultation on the subject of compulsory mediation in July—a consultation which it began over a year ago. The government’s plan is to have mandatory mediation for all defended Pt 7 civil claims in the county court, ie mostly claims for under £10,000, with sanctions for non-compliance. A later plan is to move towards making mediation mandatory for larger civil claims (those up to £25,000) in the county court too. It begs the question: will this lead to compulsory mediation for larger commercial claims?
As the consultation response recognises, in the UK we have a well-established mediation culture, certainly for larger and complex litigation cases, and yet it seems it is underused for smaller claims.
