Mediation should be first port of call for small claims disputes, CJC says

Small claims disputes worth less than £500 should be kept out of court and dealt with through mediation, the UK government’s Civil Justice Council (CJC) has said.

In a report, the CJC said claimants should be forced to go to a mediation appointment if their claims are for less than £500.

County courts are currently forced to deal with more than one million small claims cases each year.

Meanwhile, around half of small claims issued between March 2018 and April 2021 were for sums equivalent to £500 or less, the CJC said.

The recommendation comes as figures from the CJC show that claimants across the country were forced to wait an average of 38 weeks for a hearing.

The CJC also said that the right to appeal should be restricted in cases worth less than £500, and that any hearing worth less than £500 should limited in length to one hour, apart from in exceptional cases.

Chair of the CJC Sir Geoffrey Vos, said: “The speedy and cost-effective resolution of civil claims is important for the UK economy.”

“Delays cause economic drag and psychological distress to litigants that a streamlined system can minimise.”

The recommendations come after the government invested £1.3m into providing 2,440 divorce dispute mediation vouchers, in a bid to cut the divorce court backlog.