18 Jan Making mediation costs more manageable
At Consilia Mediation we have launched a new fee assistance scheme to make mediation costs more manageable for parties who meet certain financial criteria. As a service we have previously offered mediation to eligible parties via a contract with the Legal Aid Agency. The issues we have found with Legal Aid mediation however is that the threshold is very low and the documentary evidence parties had to produce was onerous and difficult to obtain on many occasions.
We have, since we launched 3 years ago, always offered mediation services on a fixed fee basis with parties choosing to either pay per session or pay for a mediation bundle which is a fixed price (assessment, two joint sessions and written documentation at the end).
We decided to launch our scheme offering reduced fixed fee sessions and packages for parties who are on lower incomes where the threshold is higher than legal aid rates so that the offering is more widely available with far less onerous documentation requirements needed to prove eligibility. We believe that the new service will assist a far greater proportion of parties seeking assistance with mediation costs than under the legal aid scheme we previously offered and we have launched this service to evidence our commitment to promoting and providing high quality family mediation services across the West and North Yorkshire region.
Details of the eligibility scheme can be found on our website and we are happy to talk parties through the scheme over the telephone at the initial enquiry stage or at the MIAMS appointment.
For more information and /or to speak to one of our mediators please contact Sallyor Laura on 0113 322 9222 or mediation@consilialegal.co.uk
