Finding Resolution: Inside the Small Claims Mediation Service

Discover how our Small Claims Mediation Service is helping to resolve disputes without the potential stress of having to go to court. 

In this episode, we’ll explore the benefits of mediation and hear the real-life story of David Kerry, one of our satisfied users who successfully used the service to find a resolution to his dispute with a large company. 

We’ll also hear from David Franks, one of our new mediators, as he tells us more about the purpose of his role and the support available to users. 

Listen now to find out more about the recent changes to the Small Claims Mediation Service, and how the service can help to find a quicker resolution to your disputes. 

For full transcript of each episode, please visit - Inside HMCTS

Transcript

David Franks: There was very little red tape, very little hanging about. Incredibly prompt response and in my particular case, a satisfactory outcome. All I'd say is that I wish I'd known about this before because I spent months, literally months, trying to pursue this without raising the bar to, you know, mediation, small claims, all the rest of it. 

Aaron Wilson: Disputes can arise in many areas of our daily lives, from contesting a parking ticket to disagreeing over payments for goods and services. This can lead to people making a claim in the civil courts to seek money they believe they're owed by another person or business. But what if there was a quicker, less stressful way to resolve your case without going to court? 

I'm Aaron Wilson from the HMCTS Communications team, and today we're talking about mediation and how it's helping more people than ever before to resolve their case away from the courtroom. We'll be speaking to someone who's used our mediation service when they found themselves in a dispute with a large courier firm. But first, we'll be speaking to David Kerry. 

He's one of our new mediators. It's his job to speak to both parties separately and work to find a solution that everyone can agree on without needing to go to court. 

So, David, if I can come to you quickly. How have you helped people to reach an agreement, and are there any cases that stand out for you in particular? 

David Kerry: There was an elderly lady that had got a parking infringement notice. She hadn’t displayed a parking badge, which was required for parking there. And upon the opening of the call, she made it quite clear to me that she'd been losing sleep and the anxiety of the court process was really, really pressuring her and putting that added pressure on her. As the mediation went through, I was putting her at ease, you know, giving her that opportunity to explore a solution without impacting that case. That was the key thing, that without the prejudice element of it, the case would continue on to court without this influencing it. Being able to explore that and explore that option freely actually helped her find a solution. 

And she was extremely grateful. At the end, you did feel that that relief come away from them, that the  pressure had been taken out of their everyday lives. And it wasn't a huge sum of money, it wasn't a large sum of money in the way of things. But for someone that was on a limited income, you could really feel they were able to explore a payment method that worked with their income and they were able to explore that freely, and they controlled that rather than them having it dictated to them at some point, you know, if they were found at fault rather than being told they had to pay someone some money, they were able to explore it on their terms. So that was that was one that was really quite meaningful to me.  

Another one I had was parents either side, a client and a defendant, which was a mother and father, and it was all in relation to money for their child to go on a school trip. And in that one they were both quite emotional. 

They both wanted the best for their child. Unfortunately, their relationship had broken down, but it shouldn't be impacting the joint thing they'd got together there, the child, that was the key thing in this mediation. 

Aaron Wilson: Thanks for that, David. It's so good to hear about cases where mediation has helped people find the solution without going to court. 

Ok, so David, as someone who's used the Small Claims Mediation Service, can I just bring you in here? Can you tell me a little bit about your experience of using the Small Claims Mediation Service and what your situation was at the time when you used it? 

David Franks: Sure, in a nutshell. Basically, I ran out of options in claiming recompense from a company that had lost a package that I’d thankfully insured. And one of the things that I do want to talk about is that there is this horrible black hole at the moment, where contacting companies through websites is pretty difficult. You get a bot, and in this particular instance, because I had queried it, I had a reference number.The reference number, if you quote that, you are told an investigation is ongoing and to hang up. If you don't have the reference number, you can't get through at all.  

So that's the reason and the circumstance that I was forced to look for recompense elsewhere other than the company.    

Aaron Wilson: Ok, and without naming the company or anything like that, can I just get you to outline what the issue was that forced you to use the Small Claims Mediation Service? 

David Franks: Yeah. Part of my career is photography, and I ordered some photographic equipment which arrived, but it wasn't actually compatible with my operating system. So I phoned the vendor and he agreed to give me my money back once it was couriered to them. So thankfully I had the presence of mind to insure it with the company arranging the transport. 

But they lost it and they admitted that they lost it. It's really a matter of trying to find out what how to go about claiming my money back.    

Aaron Wilson: And could you talk us through what the process was like for you, for using the mediation service?    

David Franks: Yeah. I mean, the process was really positive. Because I'd run the whole gauntlet of all the avenues that were available to me, I kind of googled around and found the small claims service and contacted them. Within a week, I had a phone call back from one of the mediators, who was very professionally neutral when I was describing the case, which is as it should be. They agreed that there was a case to answer. And within, I think, 3 or 4 hours, I had an offer back from the courier company, which was low, and I refused it. 

The mediator then went back and got another offer from this company and I accepted and I was happy.   

Aaron Wilson: So it sounds like you had quite a positive experience with the service. I know you've touched on that a little bit there, but what were your general thoughts around the service and then the speed it worked at? 

David Kerry: Well, to be honest with you, I was a bit surprised. Forgive me, but, you know, you think local government, government organisations, all of this is going to take about a month before anybody even notices. But it was within the week it was done and dusted and sorted.    

Aaron Wilson: So I understand previously you had a few concerns that you might have to go to court around it and face a large corporation face-to-face, how did you feel when you realised you wouldn't have to go to court and you could use this service? 

David Franks: Extremely relieved. I guess that because I hadn't used the service before, it was all a bit of an unknown. I didn't know how effective the service would be.    

Aaron Wilson: And as someone who's gone through the service, what would you say to someone else who is looking at this as a way to resolve a dispute.    

David Franks: I would say just do it because there is very little red tape, very little hanging about, incredibly prompt response. And in my particular case, a satisfactory outcome. All I'd say is that I wish I'd known about this before because I spent months, literally months trying to pursue this without raising the bar to, you know, mediation, small claims, all the rest of it. And it did feel like David versus Goliath. It felt like they've got tens of lawyers at their disposal. 

I'm just a little guy, freelance photographer. And so, yeah, it did feel daunting until I found the mediation service. 

Aaron Wilson: So there's been a recent change in the Small Claims Mediation Service, which means more people than ever before can solve their dispute by attending an appointment and so I've got Kim Wager here with me now, who is Head of Dispute Resolution. Kim can you tell us what's new with the service? 

Kim Wager: Yeah. Mediation has now become a required part of the journey. For money claims under £10,000. Around 70% of all money claims under £10,000 pounds are now required to attend a free one hour mediation appointment with the Small Claims Mediation Service. Previously, it was offered on a voluntary basis. Parties, claimants and defendants could choose to go to mediation if they wanted to, but they were not required to. 

And the success rate was really very good. It was over half of the cases were resolved at mediation by the parties finding something, a resolution that worked for both of them. All of the evidence suggests that there wasn't really very much of an understanding of the mediation process or the benefits that it could bring, and therefore we decided to make it a required part of the of the litigation journey so when a claim is put into the court, when legal proceedings have begun fora money claim of under £10,000, parties will be required to attend the mediation session. They will not be required to resolve it, to come to a settlement, but they will be required to attend and try to resolve it if they can. 

Aaron Wilson: Just to make it clear, what is the process if they can't resolve it? 

Kim Wager: Yeah. I mean, if the dispute isn't resolved in mediation, it will automatically go on to a hearing before a judge for a judicial decision and that will put an end to it. 

Aaron Wilson: Akeela Amijee, you're a mediation manager here at HMCTS, and your team is managing an increase in mediation appointments. How are they finding the work firstly? 

Akeela Amijee: Yes, sure Aaron. So as you know, mediation is a brilliant service and making it a key step is incredibly exciting and positive. We're absolutely ready. What we've done in readiness is done a mass recruitment of mediators. 

We've improved our internal booking system, and we've reviewed our current working practice. The feedback that we received from the mediators that have already started with us that it's a brilliant service to work for. The feedback that we've also received is that they can almost hear the weight being lifted off the party's shoulders, which is extremely, satisfying, for the service and to hear that they've been able to achieve that in that one hour telephone appointment provides a swifter, consensual resolution. 

And I think the parties echo that in all the feedback that we receive.  

Aaron Wilson: So if people don't settle their case follow mediation and they do still need to go to court, can the mediation process still be helpful?    

Akeela Amijee: Yes, absolutely. So whilst a mediation appointment doesn't settle, it starts that conversation, which they probably were afraid to have and quite often before it reaches a court hearing, they do settle. And we do get feedback back saying, you know, whilst we attended the mediation appointment and we didn't reach a settlement today, they can confirm that they were able to continue the conversation and, have fed back to us that they have reached an agreement, which is fantastic. 

Aaron Wilson: Thanks, Akeela, and thanks to all of my guests for joining me today. If you'd like to find out more about what you can expect from a mediation appointment, you can watch our video by searching for “what is Small Claims mediation” on YouTube. You can also read our blog about the service by visiting insidehmcts.blog.gov.uk and searching for “small claims”. 

Thanks so much for listening and we look forward to speaking to you on the next episode soon.