A mediation company provides mediation services. Their services can just be in one or more specialist field, such as workplace, commercial, civil, family, boundary, employment, victim offender, community, peer, or SEND, (special education needs) or a mixture of some or all of the prementioned. 

This can be further broken down, for example there are mediation companies who only specialise in a particular type of dispute(s). There are commercial mediation companies, who only mediate defamation disputes, or only professional negligence or property disputes. Whereas there are others who specialise in a general commercial practice. Which means they will mediate anything of a civil or commercial nature. 

Which Company Do You Choose?  

It can be extremely confusing on which mediator company to choose. There are literally thousands out there. Firstly, choose a company that specialises in the dispute you want a solution to. Therefore, it would be pointless speaking to a family mediator, a community mediator, or commercial mediator, if you have a dispute between three employees over allegations of whistleblowing, bias and bullying. Because such a dispute would require a workplace mediator who conducts workplace mediation.  

Therefore, once you have worked out what type of mediator you need, speak to at least three different mediators. If you don’t know what type of mediator you need, then call a few mediators, and tell them about your dispute, and they should be able to tell you what type of mediator you need. 

(For example, we often get calls whereby the client states they have a workplace dispute, but when they break down for us what has happened, it is obvious they actually have an employment or business dispute, and they actually need a commercial mediator.)

Tell them briefly what your dispute is about and ask the following questions / look out for the following: 

  1. Are they an accredited mediator?
  2. If so, through which mediation training company?
  3. In addition are they accredited through the Civil Mediation Council. (For family mediators are they registered with the College of Family Mediators)?  
  4. How long have they been mediating? 
  5. Are they a full-time mediator, or a part time mediator with another vocation as the day job? 
  6. How many mediations have they conducted? 
  7. When was the last one? This is important, what if they have not mediated for over a year? You need a mediator who is up to date with the latest mediation techniques.

Is their CPD up to date, if so, can you view it, alongside their online mediation profile? 

  1. What is their success rate?
  2. How can they verify any of the above, through references, if so, where can they be viewed?
  3. Do they have a Linked In profile, is it consistent with their website profile?
  4. Are they a legitimate entity, is their business a registered mediation company on Companies House?
  5. How cheap are they, how expensive? Too cheap or too expensive does not mean they are, are not an effective mediator. You will ascertain if they are right for you, if all the above mentioned 1-12 is in place. 

How Much Should You Pay?

How much do mediators charge, how much you should pay your mediator is all going to depend upon a variety of elements. 

  1. What type of dispute do you want them to mediate?
  2. This will determine how long the mediation session will be. In general, a workplace mediation, probate, TOLATA, boundary and disputes over £50,000 will require a full day. Generally, not always, all other disputes can be mediated between three to four hours. 
  3. How quickly do you need this mediated by?
  4. How many people will attend the mediation, need to be managed by the mediator? 
  5. Do you need a face-to-face mediation, or an online mediation? A lot of mediators do charge slightly less if the mediation is to be online. However, a lot charge exactly the same if it is online, or in person. 
  6. If it is a civil or commercial mediation, if a monetary amount is being claimed, how much is being claimed, as a lot of mediators charge on the value in dispute. Of course, the more in dispute, the longer session you will need, and the mediator will charge more, usually on a sliding scale. 
  7. It is important to note that company mediation  is the same as business mediation and falls under the civil and commercial mediation umbrella. Equally a business dispute is not a dispute in the workplace, it is a business-to-business dispute. 

Conclusion 

Use the above steps to ascertain which mediate company is right for you. Alongside this, get three written quotes, make sure your quote covers everything, travel, VAT, disbursements, venue and catering hire if applicable. To avoid any hidden charges. 

Alongside this, use your gut, common sense, when you sought your quote, was the person you spoke to a mediator, or where they just part of the admin team? If they were the actual mediator who was going to mediate for you, how did you get along with them? 

Did they actually listen to you, and give a no obligation options appraisal rather than a sales pitch? Did you feel comfortable with them, did they know what you were explaining, and more importantly, know what they were talking about? If yes, go for that mediator even if they were more expensive. 

If no, you did not feel comfortable with them, then go to one of the other quotes you sought, if they did not make you feel at ease either, then find other mediators. This particular mediation company has over forty professional experts’ mediators to choose from, with 100+ testimonials and reviews.