More than 10,000 people embroiled in divorces or civil disputes are to get vouchers for mediation in a bid to end bitter courtroom battles.

       Dominic Raab, the Justice Secretary, will announce on Friday that he will allocate an extra ￡5.4 million to pay for vouchers to resolve family disputes without having to go through lengthy and costly court cases.

       They will get ￡500 vouchers to pay for trained mediators to help them resolve their differences or online arbitration where they avoid face-to-face contact that can often antagonise the situation.

       It follows a ￡3.5 million trial of the approach where more than 8,400 vouchers were issued. Ministry of Justice (MoJ) analysis showed around two-thirds of the cases funded reached full or partial agreements away from court.

       Mr Raab said: “We are investing over ￡5 million this year alone to help more families to resolve their disputes without the stress and trauma of lengthy courtroom battles.

       “Mediation protects children, by removing the bitterness of parental disputes from the amplifying effect of a courtroom – and allows the family courts to focus on adjudicating cases with serious safeguarding concerns, including domestic abuse.”

       Mediation involves couples working through their differences – led by a trained and accredited mediator – to reach agreements they are both prepared to accept, such as how to split assets or arrange child contact times, rather than have a judge decide for them.

       The specialist mediator helps participants to reach solutions tailored to their circumstances with many coming to agreements within two sessions.

       One case, cited by the MoJ, involved two sisters in a row over what to do with their mother’s ￡1 million flat left to them in her will.

       One wanted to sell it, the other preferred to rent it out. Neither saw eye to eye, with mutual mistrust meaning face-to face mediation risked increasing tensions.

       A qualified mediator met each sister separately before settling the dispute, with one of the sisters paying the other half of the value of the flat.

       Promising preliminary results

       Preliminary research from the Family Mediation Council (FMC), which runs the scheme, shows promising results.

       Survey data of the first 2,800 completed cases using the vouchers revealed 65 per cent reached either a whole or partial agreement away from court.

       A further three per cent only attended court to formalise their agreement. It also showed 50 per cent of participants would not have attempted mediation without the financial incentive offered by the scheme.

       Without the vouchers, mediation sessions would normally be charged for unless one of the parties has access to legal aid.

       If a case is eligible for vouchers, the mediator will automatically claim back the contributions from the FMC. The investment announced today will extend the initiative to March 2023.