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The Ministry of Justice has published the results of an evaluation of the judicial mediation service piloted in three regions of England by the Employment Tribunal Service. The pilot was for discrimination cases in the Employment Tribunals between June 2006 and March 2007.

The evaluation found that there was no statistically significant effect of judicial mediation on the rates of cases settled; the rate of resolution that avoided a hearing; or the overall levels of satisfaction of claimants or employers. Judicial mediation was an expensive process to administer and was not offset by the estimated benefits of the process. Therefore, it was not recommended that the service be rolled out in its current form to other areas of the Employment Tribunal Service. However, judicial mediation was well received and generated positive feedback. The study therefore suggests as a possibility charging employers for the use of a judicial mediation service.

The research findings can be viewed on the Ministry of Justice website.