Low Value Disputes, lowvaluedisputes
Construction Payment Disputes

What is Construction Adjudication ?

Construction Adjudication is a way of resolving a dispute between two or more Parties.

Adjudication is a statutary right which was given in the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, incorporating the updates in the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009, requiring the provision of adjudication to be included in each Construction contract. Should the contract not comply with the provisions of the Construction Act, then the Scheme for Construction Contracts applies. Further details of the Construction Act.

Once there is a dispute that has been formed, and a Party has decided to proceed with an adjudication, a Notice of Adjudication must be prepared and sent to the other Party.

Many Construction Contracts do not contain a specific named adjudicator, but do contain an Adjudicator Nominating Body (ANB) who have  a list of adjudicators. You approach the ANB, complete the necessary forms and payment of the fee, the ANB then propose an Adjudicator.

The Party referring the dispute then issues the Referral document to the Adjudicator, which then starts the period for the Adjudicator to make their Decision, namely within 28 days. This period can be extended by a further 14 days in a limited number of instances).

The Adjudicator will set the timetable for submissions from the Parties.

After the Referral, the submissions usually include a Response document from the Responding Party and Reply from the Referring Party.

For disputes of a lower value, that being below £100,000, there is a procedure available for low value disputes, produced by the Construction Industry Council, known as the CIC LVD MAP (Low Value Dispute Model Adjudication Procedure). A copy of this procedure is available here.

This CIC LVD MAP includes a cap on the Adjudicator’s fees, depending upon the value of the dispute referred.

Other procedures for lower value disputes also exist.

If you opt for the CIC LVD MAP, the fees are currently set as:

Disputes upto £10,000, the fee is £2,000

Disputes between £10,001 – £25,000, the fee is £2,500

Disputes between £25,001 – £50,000, the fee is £3,500

Disputes between £50,001 – £75,000, the fee is £4,500

Disputes between £75,001 – £100,000, the fee is £5,000

Meetings and site visits, where required, incur an additional fee.

Once a Decision has been reached and issued by the Adjudicator, this Decision is binding upon the parties involved (unless over turned on limited grounds by a Court).

We are Wilsons of Cambridge – Low Value Disputes who have the experience and knowledge of working in various sectors of the construction industry helping to be resolution with disputes under the value of £100,000.

There are many ways to resolve a dispute, one is adjudication. 

If you have a dispute with a value less than £100,000 there are options to use a Low Value Dispute procedure. These include a cap or fixed price fee for the adjudicator. The Construction Industry Council has produced a low value disputes Model Adjudication Procedure (CIC LVD MAP). A full copy of this Procedure is available here.

Other Procedures are also available.

Other costs to consider are for someone to prepare / represent you. Wilsons of Cambridge are happy to represent you and subject to the type of dispute, we can also offer a fixed fee. Please contact us to discuss further.

We are based in Cambridge, with fast broadband offices. Our experience covers projects throughout East Anglia, London & the South East and across the United Kingdom.

Contact us to discuss more about your particular project requirements:

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Telephone 01223 911181

Wilsons of Cambridge

Email: Contact@LowValueDisputes.com

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