Higher resolution

There can be little doubt that mediation is still significantly under-used. Estimates are difficult where there is no central repository of information but the latest CEDR Mediation Audit, announced in May, showed that there were around 6,000 mainstream commercial and civil cases mediated in the last year, excluding the 10,000 small claims mediations successfully conducted by the small claims in-court mediators. This is contrasted with the aggregate number of proceedings issued in the QB and Chancery Divisions and the County Courts in 2006-07, the last year for which statistics are available, a total of a little over 2,036,000 claims.

CEDR’s impression from its own statistics is that mediation is being used reasonably regularly (especially in London and main regional centres) in commercial, property, finance and professional indemnity disputes, with employment disputes (mostly within the jurisdiction of the Employment Tribunal) adding a further 16% to its caseload. But in the largest single area of litigation, namely personal injury (PI) and its smaller associated