Mediation is best described as a conversation between two or more people, helped by a neutral third party with no decision-making power, to voluntarily reach an outcome.
It’s not about judging who was right or wrong in the past, but looks at how to agree on working together in the future.
How it Works
Family mediation is a way of helping families to make decisions about what should happen after separation or divorce. It can be used to help make the arrangements for children or finances, think about where everyone will live, what to do about debt, and can help with establishing new ways of communicating and working together. It is one of a range of options that help families stay away from the court system. It is, more often than not, where the majority of people start when they are facing family change, and we work with parents, grandparents, separated couples, caregivers and kinship carers, and others.
In mediation, you usually talk face to face (in person or online) with the other person about the arrangements. If this isn’t possible, then we also offer mediation in separate rooms. You can also bring lawyers with you, and many mediators are trained to work in a way that involves solicitors or other neutral professionals such as financial advisors or family consultants.
The foundation of mediation is that it is voluntary, it is confidential, the mediators are impartial, and families are in charge of their own decision making.
Mediation appointments usually last around 1½ to 2 hours, and you will almost certainly need more than one. Quite often the first joint session will involve each of you explaining what your goals might be, and we then plan together what action you might need or want to take. In a financial mediation, we’ll also help you deal with disclosure of your financial paperwork, which is another fundamental part.
Our mediators have a wealth of knowledge and expertise, and can give you lots of information. For example, they can help explain the divorce process and how it ties in with organising your finances, or perhaps give you information about benefits. We don’t provide legal advice and we’re not on ‘a side’.
Our mediation appointments generally involve one mediator, but sometimes we use two if different areas of expertise are required. Two heads are often better than one.
We encourage our families to involve their children in the process, where it is safe and appropriate to do so. See below for more details.
Have a look at our Factsheets which explain more about the integrated process (working with other professionals) and how children can be involved.
Types of Mediation
“Thank you for your help through this, for the limited time we had, you definitely made some of the process we have had so far easier to cover. “
– AN
Costs
Mediation sessions have a minimum fee of £504 (in VAT) for up to 90 minutes, and this is shared between you.
Legal aid is available for mediation and we’ll assess that when we meet with you. If you are eligible, mediation will be free of charge for your share.
The Ministry of Justice is also currently funding a voucher which can contribute £500 towards the cost of mediations that involve discussions about your children.
Works well with
