As of 22 May 2024, mandatory mediation has been introduced for certain cases allocated to the small claims track where the only remedy claimed is a monetary sum. It will not apply to claims started via the Online Civil Money Claims Procedure (OCMCP) or to road traffic accidents or personal injury claims. 

How does it work?

The relevant claims will be automatically referred to the Small Claims Mediation Service (SCMS) which is provided by HMCTS. Upon completion of the Directions Questionnaire, parties (or their solicitors if nominated) will be contacted by the SCMS and given a date and time for a mediation telephone call for up to an hour. This mediation session will be free of charge in respect of any court fee. Effectively, a mediator will call each side separately back and forth to see if an agreement can be reached and each party can expect to have two to three calls within the hour. If an agreement is reached, it will be legally binding. The agreed terms will be set out in a document called a settlement agreement. If either side breaks the terms of this agreement, then the other side can go to court to ask for a judgment or hearing. If no agreement can be reached during the mediation calls, the parties will be asked to attend a court hearing and the discussions during the mediation appointment cannot be mentioned in court.

What does it mean?

Whilst there is no obligation to reach a settlement agreement, it is important that parties attend the mediation session. Non-attendance at mediation will likely have negative implications on a case later down the line; the court can dismiss (strike out) a claim or order a party to pay all court costs even if they win.

Whilst it is difficult to say how successful these changes will be, I am optimistic that in the long run, this may help reduce overall costs by reducing the number of cases that progress through the court process to trial. It will also hopefully encourage greater collaboration in an area that can be quite adversarial. It will be particularly interesting to see how effective mediation will be for disrepair cases if the parties attending the mediation are both the legal representatives and have already progressed cases in accordance with the Pre-action Protocol for Housing Conditions claims.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch and I'd be happy to explain anything further.