Complaints Procedure

Mediation Complaints Procedure
If you have any concerns about our practice or the service you have received from one of our mediators, there are a number of steps you can take.

We are committed to providing a high-quality service to all our clients and to treating our clients fairly. If you feel that something goes wrong, we want you to tell us about it as soon as possible. In limited circumstances a qualifying third party can make a complaint against a mediator. If you think this applies to you please see the separate section in this Complaints Procedure relating to qualifying third parties.

Our complaints procedure
If you are dissatisfied with a mediator’s practice or the service you have received we hope you would talk first to the mediator involved about your concern or complaint so that the mediator can deal with it immediately if they can.

If you feel that is not appropriate or if you are still dissatisfied please write to our administrative office: Mediation Matters Midlands Ltd, 6 Mount View, Dunton Bassett, Leicestershire, LE17 5JL.

Please clearly set out:
1. the nature of your complaint
2. how it has arisen
3. steps you have taken to resolve the issue
4. what, if any, resolution has been offered

Procedural steps
1. Within 10 working days of receiving your complaint (i.e. excluding weekends and Bank Holidays) we will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint and, if necessary, asking you to confirm or explain the details of your complaint. We will also let you know the name of the person who will be dealing with your complaint.
2. We will record and open a file for your complaint.
3. We will examine the relevant file and, if we need any information from you in order to investigate the complaint, we will request you to provide it.
4. If it seems appropriate, we will suggest a meeting with you to discuss the complaint with you and, if possible, to resolve it.
5. At the conclusion of our investigation, we shall send you a letter setting out our findings. If the matter has been resolved by a meeting between you and the person dealing with your complaint, our letter will confirm to you what took place and any solutions we agreed with you.
6. Our aim will be to conclude our investigation and send you our letter setting out our findings or confirming what took place at a meeting within 30 working days of receiving the complaint or, if we need more time before we can conclude our investigation, we shall write to you within that time to tell you of the likely timescale.

Review
7. If, after we have concluded our investigation and written to you, you are still not satisfied, you can write to ask us to review our response. We will then review our response. We may suggest an external individual or body to review our response.
8. We may (but are not required to) invite you to agree to independent mediation, in which case we
will let you know what this process involves and how long it may be expected to take.
9. Once these steps have been carried out, we will write to you confirming our final position on your
complaint and explaining our reasons. We would generally aim to do this and write to you within 15
working days of receiving your request to us to review our response to your complaint. If the review
is going to take longer, for example because further investigation is required or because we are
inviting you to a mediation, we will write to you within that time to tell you of the likely timescale.

Who Can Bring a Complaint About Mediation
10. If you are a mediation client, a former mediation client, or a qualifying third party (see below) you
can make a complaint that relates to breaches of the Family Mediation Council’s Codes of Practice
or Standards Framework that occurred within the last 3 months. For the avoidance of doubt,
complaints that relate to the way a mediation was conducted as a whole, the date the 3 months
runs from is the last mediation session.

What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint
11. You may wish to go to independent mediation. If we are in agreement with this, we can let you
know how long this would take.
12. The mediators working for us are all registered with the Family Mediation Council (FMC). The FMC
regulates them and they must adhere to a Code of Practice and professional standards. If your
complaint is about a breach of the FMC Code of Practice and professional standards you can ask the
Family Mediation Standards Board (FMSB) to consider the complaint, if certain criteria are met. You
can raise your concerns with the FMC
at familymediationcouncil.org.uk/complaints-about-mediators/

Qualifying third parties
The FMSB sets out those who qualify as third parties who can make a complaint against a mediator:
? A prospective client who has been directly affected by a mediator’s professional behaviour;
? a person who has been invited to participate in a mediation process, for example another
professional who attends a mediation.
For the avoidance of doubt, it is common for a mediator to contact a potential mediation
participant after seeing the other potential mediation participant. Complaints about a mediator
making contact with a potential participant do not therefore need to be investigated by mediators
and will not be accepted by the FMSB.
Likewise, mediators may sign court forms to say one person has attended a Mediation Information
and Assessment Meeting (MIAM) without notifying a potential second mediation participant or
inviting them to attend MIAM themselves. Complaints about a mediator not making contact with a
potential participant do not therefore need to be investigated by mediators and will not be
accepted by the FMSB.
Please note that neither mediators nor the FMSB will be able to disclose any information to you that
is confidential between the mediator and the mediation participant(s). It is therefore normal that as
a third party, you will only receive a limited amount of information in response to your complaint,
even in circumstances where it is considered by the FMSB.

Vexatious/personal complaints
14. Complaints that appear to be vexatious or of a purely personal nature do not have to be
investigated by mediators. Complaints can be considered of a purely personal nature if they are
discriminatory or focus on the personal attributes or circumstances of a mediator rather than their
actions as a mediator.
15. Complaints can be considered vexatious when:
16. the purpose appears to be to intimidate, disturb, disrupt and/or unduly or unfairly pressurise the
mediator or the FMSB;
17. they are persistent/repetitive, and repeating the same or substantially similar complaints which
have already been investigated;
18. they are clearly unfounded and unsupported by evidence;
19. they are irrelevant and relate to matters other than mediation;
20. abusive or offensive language is used.

©Mediation Matters Midlands Ltd April 2022