According to the Family Mediation Council (FMC), legal aid rates paid to mediators have remained unchanged for 25 years, leading to a 50% reduction since 2018 in the number of family mediators offering legal aid services. Consequently, families are having to wait longer for their initial mediation information and assessment meeting (MIAM) if they are on legal aid rather than paying privately.
The FMC report, ‘The state of family mediation’, published last week, states: ‘About a quarter of mediators who offer legal aid have stopped taking on new legal aid cases in the past year.
‘Furthermore, 55% say they envisage a point over the next year where they/their firm will need to stop taking on new legal aid cases, or ringfence time spent on them. The reduction in legal aid mediators is primarily driven by mediators not being able to afford to offer services on legal aid rates.’
Overall, however, the report found the amount of family mediation is growing, with a ‘particular increase’ since the court rules were amended in 2024 to encourage parties to consider non-court dispute resolution. According to Ministry of Justice statistics for 2023, 69% of mediations resolved the issues so the case did not go to court or went only for a consent order. Generally, only one in three potential mediations fail due to lack of participation by one of the parties.
FMC CEO Helen Anthony said the report found ‘awareness of family mediation is higher among the general public and professionals working with families. Access to family mediation is easier for many separating couples, and assurance of family mediation standards provides greater confidence in the quality of services’.
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