Moving family mediation forward
Family Justice Minister Lord McNally has called on mediators to lead the way in promoting out of court solutions for separating families.
Family Justice Minister Lord McNally has called on mediators to lead the way in promoting out of court solutions to help separating families.
At a Family Mediation Council conference for practitioners in London, he said:
“My message to you as practitioners and supervisors is simple - your time is now - you now have a once in a generation opportunity to raise the profile of your profession, as a single and united profession.”
The Government strongly supports mediation - a quicker, simpler and more effective way for separating couples to agree how they divide their assets or arrange child contact, which avoids the traumatic and divisive effect of courtroom battles.
The Ministry of Justice has announced it is committed to spending £25 million in the next year to support publicly-funded mediation and is behind new laws being created to ensure all separating couples must consider mediation before they can take their dispute to court.