At the Adjudication Society Conference, hosted in Manchester on 20 November 2024, Prof. Renato Nazzini and Neil Kelly presented the findings of the 2024 King’s College London research into adjudication in the UK. As a practitioner in the field, there are some headlines from the data that I found particularly interesting…

Adjudication on the rise

There was a 9% year-on-year increase in applications to ANBs (Adjudicator Nominating Bodies) made between May 2023 and April 2024. The referrals received by the ANBs over this period reached 2,264, the highest number ever recorded. The data does not set out what is underlying this trend. Is it that there are more disputes overall, or is the uptick due to an increased preference for adjudication as the dispute resolution method of choice? My feeling is that it is more likely to be the former… 

ANBs and market share

Of the 2,264 (non-low value) referrals to the ANBs, 1,340 (nearly 60%) were made to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (“RICS”). This is nearly three times the number of applications received from the next most popular ANB, UK Adjudicators (having received 461 referrals). This represents a significant hegemony in an open and unregulated market. Questions were raised as to why RICS has such dominance and whether this was a cause for concern. These are not questions that can be answered on the data, but it is notable that such market share should not be taken for granted. As noted above, UK Adjudicators is now the second most popular ANB and it was only established in 2018. 

Diversity

This section of the research contained the starkest statistics of the report. It is noted that the figures collected largely relate to gender disparity amongst adjudicators, as data on race or other characteristics is generally not collected by the ANBs.

In terms of gender equality, the report indicates that much more work is needed to increase representation of women in adjudication. The two ANBs with the most adjudicators on their panels are UK Adjudicators and RICS, with 249 and 116 panellists respectively. In respect of UK Adjudicators, only 8% of its panel are women and this decreases to 7% for RICS. TECBAR is currently leading the field with 20% of its 96 member panel being women, with TECSA following with 12% female panellists. This split is likely the result of greater gender parity more generally in the legal sector, with women making up over 50% of lawyers in the UK.1

The limited pool of female adjudicators on the ANBs panels is one thing, whether this translates to appointments is another. Given that the market is dominated by RICS, the statistic that it only appointed women in 2% of its referrals is not encouraging. Again, TECBAR is doing the most to ensure better representation of women by appointing female adjudicators in 25% of the referrals made to it.

The critical question is how these numbers, particularly for the market leaders, can be improved. Here I would highlight the Equal Representation in Adjudication Pledge2 and the work being done by the Women in Adjudication arm of the Adjudication Society.3

From my perspective, it is clear that the pool of the women adjudicators needs to increase through greater access to mentoring and/or more open avenues to becoming adjudicators. I also consider that the ANBs need better transparency on why underrepresentation of women on the various panels persists. As a party representative, I aim to be much more alive to any opportunities where I can put suitably qualified female adjudicators forward for appointments. I will also be urging my commercial colleagues to do the same when drafting dispute resolution clauses in construction contracts.

In terms of the overall pool of adjudicators, there are arguments made that there are only so many referrals to go around and that increasing the size of the panels to allow more women to join is not appropriate. This leads me onto the more controversial topic of whether mandatory retirement ages might be imposed for adjudicators, as they are for the judiciary. This, however, is possibly a discussion for another time...  

• 1. Based on data from law firms regulated by the SRA - https://www.sra.org.uk/sra/equality-diversity/diversity-profession/diverse-legal-profession/#:~:text=The%20proportion%20of%20women%20lawyers,down%20from%200.2%25%20in%202021
• 2. https://www.adjudication.org/diversity/equal-representation-in-adjudication-pledge
• 3. https://www.adjudication.org/diversity/women-in-adjudication