header-logo header-logo

Mediation vouchers: a short-term patch

21 February 2025 / Stuart Hanson
Issue: 8105 / Categories: Opinion , Family , Mediation , ADR , Divorce , Legal aid focus
printer mail-detail
208722
Stuart Hanson on why mediators should not be celebrating the repeated extension of an inadequate scheme

The recent announcement that the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has extended the Family Mediation Voucher Scheme by another 12 months has been met with praise from some quarters, including the Family Mediation Council (FMC). The FMC has highlighted that ‘early analysis from the first 7,200 families to use the scheme showed more than two-thirds reached agreement without the need to go to court’—on the surface, this sounds like a success story worth celebrating.

However, beneath the headlines lies a set of deeper concerns that the mediation profession—and the public—should not ignore. While the voucher scheme has undoubtedly encouraged some separating couples to explore mediation, it also masks the ongoing underfunding of family mediation and the wider issues surrounding access to justice in private family law cases.

Since the removal of legal aid for most private family law disputes in 2013, family mediation was promoted as the government’s flagship alternative to court

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Mourant—Stephen Alexander

Mourant—Stephen Alexander

Jersey litigation lead appointed to global STEP Council

mfg Solicitors—nine trainees

mfg Solicitors—nine trainees

Firm invests in future talent with new training cohort

360 Law Group—Anthony Gahan

360 Law Group—Anthony Gahan

Investment banking veteran appointed as chairman to drive global growth

NEWS
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
back-to-top-scroll