About Mediation « Headway Family Mediation Service

Mediation is a voluntary and confidential process which helps people who have experienced a relationship breakdown to discuss and reach their own decisions about the future, regarding the issues concerning them, which may be about children, finance or property.
An experienced, impartial and understanding mediator at Headway will meet with you both together to help you consider the options and reach fair, well informed joint decisions about the future.

Mediation can be used by people at any stage of divorce or separation, including by those who have recently decided to separate or divorce and those who may have done so some years ago.
Mediation can be helpful for parents (before or after separation), divorcing or divorced couples, co-habitees (couples living together but not married), same-sex couples (whether in a civil-partnership or not), grandparents and others going through family conflict.
Mediation can be used to discuss arrangements for children and may be centred on a specific issue or used to agree a broader parenting-plan.
Mediation can also be used to sort out your financial matters, and to discuss your future housing and living arrangements.
Many of our clients at Headway use mediation to help resolve child issues as well as property and financial issues and this is referred to as ‘All Issues Mediation’ (AIM).

You will come to a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (further details in our FAQs page).
After that, you will then both meet together with the mediator for a number of sessions, each lasting 1 ½ hours.
The number of meetings that take place will vary depending on the matters being discussed, ranging from 2 or 3 sessions for Child Only Mediation to 4 or 5 for Mediation covering issues regarding children, property and finances.

The mediator will help you to clarify the issues of concern, focusing on the children and what they need from each of you, and will work with you to agree the best way forward that is in the children’s best interests.
We will help you to work through the matters that need to be addressed, which could range from a specific issue or could involve agreeing a whole parenting plan.
Your joint decisions are written up into a document known as a Statement of Outcome.

The aim of property and financial mediation is for the mediator to help you to agree a financial settlement which you both consider to be fair and reasonable and which takes full account of the needs of any children.
The first step is to compile a detailed list of all assets, liabilities (debts), income and expenditure.
The mediator will then use this information to help you explore a range of options for your financial settlement and to reach an agreement on the way forward which you both consider to be the best for all family members. It is important that any decisions you reach are based on good and accurate information, so the mediator will suggest that, where appropriate, you take further advice from, for example, solicitors, mortgage or financial advisors.
The agreements reached are written up by your mediator in a document known as a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’. You will also be provided with an ‘Open Financial Statement’ detailing the financial information disclosed in mediation. The Memorandum of Understanding is not legally binding but can then easily be converted by a solicitor into a ‘Consent Order’ or a ‘Deed of Separation’ for the court to approve which finalises matters, and makes them legally binding.

Research has shown that mediation can lead to better outcomes for separating couples and in particular for their children.
Mediation enables parties to remain in control and make sensible decisions about their own family’s future, having explored all issues, rather than have decisions made and imposed by a court.
Mediation helps reduce conflict and bitterness between parties and avoids the stress of a lengthy and costly legal battle, leaving you better able to move on and make a new start.
The mediation process is significantly cheaper than alternative legal routes and may be free for clients who are eligible for Legal Aid.
Mediation is usually a far quicker way to resolve matters than other routes.
Mediation can help improve communication and promote co-operation which is particularly important for those who will need to continue to work together in parenting and supporting their children.

Our mediators will guide and support you through the step by step process of mediation and help you both to see a pathway through the issues you are currently facing, to a clearer future.
Headway’s mediators act as an impartial third party and manage the process, helping you to exchange information and ideas in a constructive and future-focused way and ensuring that you make informed decisions. Each of you will be given equal opportunity to share your views on the best way forward.
Mediators will not make the decisions – all decision making is made jointly by you. Click here for further details about Headway and our team.

Mediation is usually significantly cheaper than alternative legal routes. According to a BBC News report, “The average cost of ending a marriage through the British courts is about £13,000.” Even if courts are avoided, solicitor’s fees can mount up and often become very expensive.
Headway Mediation Service has a contract with the LSC to provide FREE family Mediation to clients who are eligible for Legal Aid. For those clients who are not eligible, we aim to keep our charges as low as possible to ensure that mediation is affordable and cost effective. Our charges are made on a scale, dependant upon your income, and we will always let you know exactly what these will be at your Mediation information and Assessment Meeting. For details of the costs, see ‘Our Fees’.
Mediation is usually a much quicker way of resolving issues than alternative routes. According to the Legal Services Commission, the national average duration for private child proceedings is 13 months and for financial proceedings it is 24 months. Mediated cases are typically completed in two to five meetings over a period of two to four months, so enabling you to resolve your issues more quickly and move forward more positively with your lives.

If you would like to find out more, talk to one of our team, or discuss making an appointment for a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting, contact us or request a call back.
If you are interested in mediation but perhaps find it difficult to discuss this with the other party, or you are concerned that they may not wish to proceed, we can contact them to explain the mediation process and encourage their participation. Whatever the dispute, we genuinely care and want to help if we can.
Alternatively, if you feel you would like to make an appointment for an Initial Information Meeting straight away, please fill in our ‘Request a Meeting Form’ and we will then contact you to make an appointment.
The Information Meeting can be held at which ever of our offices is the most convenient for you. These are situated in convenient locations throughout Hertfordshire in Hatfield, Stevenage, Hemel Hempstead, Watford, Hoddesdon and St Albans and also in Luton, Bedfordshire. The Information Meeting can be for you to attend together or separately.
You can also find out more about mediation by looking at our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’, or, for some further sources of helpful information on relevant issues, please visit our ‘Useful Links’ page. Our blog also includes a number of articles which may be of interest to you.

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