Juliette Dalrymple and Stan Angel, Family Matters’ directors
As one of the foremost mediation specialists in the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire area, we are delighted to be leading the way in helping couples to sort out family and financial issues, surpassing figures shown in a report published this week.
FOI request for numbers attending mediation
The report, published by the charity, National Family Mediation (NFM), follows its freedom of information request to the Ministry of Justice for information on the number of couples going attending court who had previously attended a Mediation Information and Assessment meeting following new rules for divorcing couples that were set in April 2014.
The rules (part of the Children and Families Act 2014) promoted by the government as the preferred way for divorcing couples, made it compulsory for separating couples to attend a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (MIAM) – which is essentially a meeting to check whether mediation would be appropriate for the couple – before going to court (apart from in some exceptional cases).
Report says no increase in mediation
NFM’s report suggests that the Government’s move to try to help couples find a less confrontational, and more cost effective solution to their issues, has failed. It shows that in 2014/2015 less than 4% of those applying for private law proceedings attended a MIAM (actual figures shown below).
A number of factors need to be taken into account when looking at these figures. They record those who are entitled to legal aid who attended MIAMS and do not record those who pay privately for their meeting. Also, the report does not consider those couples who attend a MIAM and reach agreement and never go to court.
Family Matters sees increase in mediation
Our own experience is that it has seen a 45% increase in referrals to mediation since the legal changes, and of these 42% reach full or partial agreement.
Director Stan Angel says “The national experience may be disguising wide variations across the country and across different types of mediation practice, as can be seen by our own experience.
For changes to the law to be effective they must be supported by the court administration, the judiciary and legal representatives. The problem lies not with the changes to the law in themselves, but their successful implementation. Our experience at Family Matters shows that with robust and knowledgeable judiciary and magistracy, and supportive legal professionals, the culture change intended by the changes to the law is taking place.”
The figures produced by the freedom of information request, as reported by NFM, are:
- 2014 – total of quarters 2,3 & 4: 849 completed MIAMs out of a total of 55,381 private law applications
- 2015 – total of quarters 1, 2 & 3 (most up-to-date figures available): 3,510 MIAMs out of a total of 56, 551 private law applications.
Stan says “Its quite hard to believe these figures are accurate as they suggest that around 107,000 couples were exempt from the law that requires them to attend a MIAM, and that rate of exemption is certainly not what we have experienced at Family Matters.”
