CIC Low Value Disputes Model Adjudication Procedure

CIC publishes Low Value Disputes Model Adjudication Procedure on 1 May 2020

The Construction Industry Council will be launching its Low Value Disputes Model Adjudication Procedure (CIC LVD MAP) on 1st May 2020 via a webinar at 2pm.

The webinar will feature presentations by Rt Hon Nick Raynsford Chairman of CICAIR, Niall Lawless Chair of the CIC ADR Management Board and Fergus Harradence, Deputy Director for Construction, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Please click here to register.

Adjudication is currently unaffordable to many SMEs, and the CIC LVD MAP encourages the use of adjudication as a disputes resolution process where the amount in dispute is small.

The publication of the CIC LVD MAP First Edition is in response to growing construction industry concerns about the increasing complexity and prohibitive costs of adjudication. The purpose is to provide a simple and cost-effective procedure to make adjudication more accessible for SME’s and others involved in lower value claims – it is aimed at disputes where claims are for £50,000 or less, and the issues in dispute are relatively uncomplicated. Another objective is to allow newly qualified Adjudicators to gain experience deciding Low Value Disputes.

It was developed by a Working Group Chaired by Martin Burns, RICS Head of ADR Research and Development, and which included representatives from other key industry bodies such as the Adjudication Society, CIC, CEDR, ICE and the RICS.

The CIC LVD MAP complies with the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 as amended by Part 8 of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 (the “Construction Act”).

The new adjudication procedure is the result of two consultations with the construction industry and other stakeholders, from which comprehensive and informed feedback was considered. The document sets out a streamlined adjudication procedure for Low Value Disputes and, by linking the Adjudicator’s fee to the amount claimed, provides certainty as to how much the Adjudicator will be paid for making an Adjudicator’s Decision.

By including an outline timetable for the procedural stages it provides a flexible yet simple to understand approach to the key elements of the adjudication process.

The CIC LVD MAP is supported by ten Participating Adjudicator Nominating Bodies (ANBs). Participating ANBs maintain their own panel of qualified adjudicators who will apply the procedure fee and expenses scale as set out in the Schedule 1.

The CIC LVD MAP was originally scheduled to be published on 18th March 2020 at a launch at RICS, however due to the COVID-19, this was postponed.

The ten Participating ANBs are:

• Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR)
• Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb)
• Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB)
• Construction Industry Council (CIC)
• Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE)
• Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET)
• Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE)
• Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)
• Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)
• UKANB Limited (UK Adjudicators)