Role Title

Small Claims Mediator

Job family group

Operational Delivery

Job family

Service Delivery

Grade

HEO

Status

Role Purpose

This is a user-facing role providing an inclusive and accessible in-house mediation and conciliation service to facilitate resolution on small claims (value less than 10K) between parties, removing the requirement for a hearing and the related costs, and improving user experience. The role holder will work with parties and focus on their immediate - short term needs to resolve their disputes.

Key Accountabilities

• Managing Casework, being available to carry out the prescribed number of mediations booked into the appointment schedule and maintaining the level of settlement at, or above the required rate as set by the business.

• Responsibility for carrying out mediation appointments in accordance with the training given and following the mediation process as set out in the five stages of mediation. To maintain the highest levels of mediation performance and comply with the ‘Mediators Code of Conduct’.

• Provide professional support and guidance to users of the Mediation service in line with quality standards, to ensure the delivery of a high-quality user-focussed service on a daily basis and deliver a service focussed on quality as well as timeliness.

• Monitor self-performance, reflect on, and take the necessary remedial action in relation to on-line customer feedback given about mediation performance.

• To impartially facilitate the resolution of a dispute that has been listed for mediation, guiding the parties through the mediation process, providing suggestions and encouragement to help the parties reach agreement, reducing costs for the users and the need to come to court to settle disputes.

• Communicate to parties the mediation process, focusing on the users’ needs and their desired outcomes.

• Discuss with each party individually the issues at the heart of the dispute and help parties agree to discuss these and any areas of compromise, by relaying information, suggestions and proposals between the parties, with the aim of reaching a settlement.

• Conduct confidential dialogue using a variety of contact channels to suit the parties’ needs (webchat, telephony, face-to-face), in accordance with mediation and settlement protocols, to achieve mediation settlement targets.

• Conduct interviews with all parties concerned and gather all the information about the conflict, then promote and guide communications while applying relevant policies and processes to reach an amicable resolution.

• Using careful judgement knowing what information to release to the other party and at its most effective stage.

• Make use of the case management system to extract details of the case and obtain contact details for the parties to begin the mediation process.

• Accurate resulting of mediation appointments to ensure the claim can proceed as required within the timeframe bound by civil procedure rules.

• Once the settlement is reached, to accurately, and timely, prepare the legally binding settlement agreements for parties, ensuring they fully understand the contents and terms. If parties are unable to reach an agreement and settle the case, record these details on the case management system.

• Updating court records and liaison with Listing and Case Administration teams to ensure any scheduled hearings are removed due to settlement, freeing up court time for other users, or informing Listing and Case directions teams if parties decide that mediation has not worked/parties have not settled and that the case needs to be listed for a hearing.

• Through your example, demonstrate the HMCTS values and leadership behaviours so that you influence the behaviour of others.

• Ensure compliance with HMCTS values, policies and procedures (including diversity, attendance and discipline, HMCTS Assurance Programme) and contribute to ongoing development in all service areas.

• Ensure input is given to the updating of annual/monthly governance, risk management registers and contingency plans.

• Provide leadership cover to support administrative teams and mediation team leaders where appropriate/necessary.

• Develop and manage close working relationships with administrative teams and wider civil National Services colleagues to provide information, advice and guidance for mediation appointments.

• Support, through the delivery of service improvement and working groups (Employee engagement, Change, Technology, Performance, Diversity and Inclusion and Health and Wellbeing) the cluster and regional business plan priorities.

• The role holder, in the absence of their Team Leader, may be required to carry out devolved powers in accordance with Judicial direction to allow claims to progress through mediation.

• The role holder will be required to support administrative tasks in lieu of appointments where scheduling permits and as directed by Team Leaders.

• The role-holder may be called upon, occasionally, to make presentations to stakeholders e.g. Civil Court Users Association, CAB, on the small claims mediation service.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Leadership skills - to visibly demonstrate and embed the new culture and ways of working for the Mediation Service in delivering service excellence.

• Jurisdiction knowledge, or willingness to learn, using guidance, job cards and SOPs where these exist.

• Knowledge of, or willingness to learn, civil proceedings, mediation protocols and principles and/or experience in negotiating.

• Active listening - giving full attention to what is being said, asking questions when appropriate.

• Clear and concise communication skills - to be able to relay information in simple, easy to understand terms that the parties can use to come to decisions about the case. Understanding, assimilating and relaying information gathered that will progress discussion.

• Interpersonal skills - to deal with disputing parties and maintain a civil, respectful discussion, helping parties consider all options but remaining impartial and keeping discussions fair, equal and focussed.

• Negotiation and influencing skills - to help parties consider proposals from the opposing side and be willing to compromise where this is possible.

• Conflict resolution skills including the ability the ability to relate to people from all backgrounds and deal with individuals who may be upset, vulnerable, angry or distressed.

• Analytical skills including the ability to grasp the detail quickly and make sound judgements.

• Logical information ordering that arranges things in a pattern or a certain order.

• Clear attention to detail to ensure information can be successfully relayed between parties to facilitate discussions and that outcomes are fully articulated to support the resulting of the appointment.

• Writing and reading skills - for record keeping and evaluation of important documents with complex information

Problem Solving and Decision Making

• For each mediation, the mediator ensures the role of the mediator is clearly understood by the parties, that the mediator is not a judge; that the role is not to decide who is right or wrong or to take sides; but to explore whether there is some middle ground between parties to enable a settlement to be reached. The mediator maintains strict impartiality throughout and will not proffer any legal advice or provide any indication as to the strength of either party’s claim.

• The mediator must probe carefully each party’s position to identify what is in dispute and the middle-ground. Mediators will know that feelings as well as facts may affect the parties’ decision making. Getting past parties’ fixed positions, exploring underlying feelings, remaining patient and modelling co-operative behaviour, are key to securing a positive outcome in terms of a settlement.

• Mediators must determine the best way to guide the parties through the mediation process and to the key issues of the dispute within the short, allotted time. During the course of a mediation a number of problems and issues can occur or become apparent as the process develops. The role-holder may have to deal with or overcome:

• hostility of parties towards each other

• aggressive or emotional behaviours from parties

• inflexibility by one or other party when more is needed to resolve the dispute e.g., a party making offers that are derisory by objective standards

• cultural (language) differences between parties

• different levels of understanding between parties

• individuals who may lack mental capacity or may otherwise be vulnerable (and for whom the mediation process would not be appropriate).

• In overcoming these problems/issues the mediator will explore options in greater depth so that the scope for concessions can be identified, aiming to control emotions and keep the negotiations on track whilst comparing options in the mediation to future options in the litigation process (parties realising complexities of proof or future court procedures); reflecting back to parties on rigid positions taken by them.

• Ensure momentum of negotiations and react to the arguments put forward, determining which points arising should be challenged and how they should be challenged. Mediators must judge whether it might be appropriate to curtail discussions e.g. when it is clear that the inflexibility of parties cannot be overcome, or, when some additional time should be allowed in order to reach a settlement.

Management of Resources

• The role-holder has no formal line management responsibilities.

• The role-holder is not a formal budget holder.

• Management of own personal resources and time required by this role.

Autonomy

• The role-holder will meet with the Mediation Team Leader on a regular basis to review performance against guideline targets, which will be set as per business needs and reviewed during PID conversations.

• The role-holder works independently either from an office base or as part of hybrid working policies, whereby a percentage of time will be worked in the office and a home location.

• The role holder will often operate in a physically separate location from their line manager and will have little opportunity to ask for real-time guidance from manager.

• This role will follow prescribed mediation protocols and guidelines and can use some discretion and independent thought within these to help parties reach settlement.

• On a day-to-day basis, the role-holder is expected to take work forward using personal judgement and initiative.

• The work of the role-holder is not checked at any stage and within the Code of Practice guidelines, the role-holder is free to determine the approach to each mediation undertaken.

Key Relationships and Contacts

This role will communicate with users of mediation (parties to a case) on resolving issues and reaching agreement between parties (or helping the parties determine that agreement will not be reached, and matter will need to be listed for hearing). There will be a requirement to gather and provide information and sometimes to persuade/influence parties to consider options, proposals and suggestions from the other party that they might otherwise have rejected/not considered.

• Head of Mediation - reporting on performance and day to day issues, providing information, evidence and statistics where required.

• Service users - facilitating discussions to reach mutual agreement / solution to issues, acting as a conduit for information between the parties, impartially relaying information, proposals etc between the parties

• Case directions and Scheduling & listing team - providing information on the progression of cases and if necessary, remove from/add to hearing lists

• Judiciary - communication to keep up to date on jurisdictional issues and best practice in mediation and dispute resolution