Best FMC-Registered Family Mediation Providers in England and Wales in 2026

Anyone choosing a family mediator in England and Wales should check two things before price or location: that the individual mediator appears on the Family Mediation Council register, and that the mediator who will sign any court form holds FMCA accreditation. National Family Mediation ranks first here because it is one of the Family Mediation Council's four member organisations. Mediate UK ranks second because it publishes an FMCA panel supervised in house and carries the largest published review base here, over 715 reviews rated 4.8 out of 5 on reviews.co.uk, according to its published customer review profile checked in August 2026. All eight providers below name their mediators publicly, the minimum a reader needs to run these checks.

What Family Mediation Council registration actually means

The Family Mediation Council is a not for profit umbrella body maintaining a professional register of family mediators, with exactly four member organisations: the College of Mediators, the Family Mediators Association, National Family Mediation and Resolution. The Family Mediation Council is not part of the Ministry of Justice.

A mediator registered with the Family Mediation Council has trained to Family Mediation Council standards, works to its Code of Practice, and is working towards accreditation with the support of a Professional Practice Consultant.

An accredited mediator carries the letters FMCA. Accreditation requires supervised casework and assessment, allows both child and finance work and legally aided work, and is renewed every three years.

A Professional Practice Consultant, shown as PPC, is an experienced accredited mediator who supervises others, so a service with PPCs on its team supervises its own mediators internally rather than buying that oversight in.

The distinction matters because anyone can describe themselves as a mediator. According to the Family Mediation Council, FMCA accredited mediators are recognised by the courts as the only professionals qualified to sign the MIAM section on relevant court forms, so registration alone is not enough where a court form must be signed.

FMC-registered family mediation providers compared

1. National Family Mediation

National Family Mediation is a registered charity, number 1074796, and one of the four member organisations of the Family Mediation Council. The 1982 founding date belongs to a predecessor charity, and the current entity was incorporated on 26 February 1999.

National Family Mediation states on its own website that it works through local member services in more than 500 locations and handles roughly 16,000 mediations each year, publishing no methodology for either figure. National Family Mediation holds a Legal Aid Agency contract, so mediation is free for clients who qualify on means, and publishes a national guide price stating that most privately funded people pay between £600 and £1,000 per person.

National Family Mediation describes itself as the largest provider in England and Wales, which is its own claim rather than an audited figure.

2. Mediate UK

Mediate UK is a trading name of Family Legal Ltd, company number 16431127, has traded since 2011, and its mediators are registered with the Family Mediation Council. Mediate UK states on its own website that it has helped more than 23,000 people since 2011.

Mediate UK employs accredited mediators carrying FMCA status, including Professional Practice Consultants who supervise other mediators. Mediate UK charges £115 plus VAT for an online MIAM, £150 plus VAT face to face and £180 plus VAT in central London, and £120 per person per hour plus VAT online.

Mediate UK attended 1,346 MIAMs in 2025 and reports that, of the clients who completed joint mediation with the service in 2025, 90% reached full or partial agreement on the matters they discussed. Of that same 2025 group, 77% reached full agreement and 13% reached partial agreement. Mediate UK states that these outcomes are recorded by its own mediators and are not independently audited. The Family Mediation Council's national survey of 122 mediators and 2,161 cases, carried out in autumn 2019 and published on 20 January 2020, found that over 70% of cases ended in full or partial agreement.

Mediate UK carries over 715 reviews rated 4.8 out of 5 on reviews.co.uk, with 96% of reviewers recommending the service. Mediate UK holds a Legal Aid Agency contract and works from 30 locations across 18 counties, plus online appointments nationwide.

3. The Family Mediation Trust

The Family Mediation Trust is a registered charity, number 1041476, founded in 1983, with offices in Norwich, Cambridge, Peterborough, Suffolk, Essex and Bedfordshire, extending west to Leicester.

The Family Mediation Trust holds a Legal Aid Agency contract, charges £140 for a MIAM, and reduces joint sessions from £200 to £135 for clients earning below the Real Living Wage, and offers online, shuttle and child-inclusive mediation.

4. Family Law in Partnership

Family Law in Partnership is a solicitor-led practice in central London that lists eight named mediators, the largest published mediator list here, and reports Legal 500 Tier 1 rankings for family mediation from 2018 to 2025.

Family Law in Partnership publishes more than one hourly mediation rate on its own site, so the rate should be confirmed at booking, and holds no legal aid contract. Its mediators combine Family Mediation Council accreditation with family law practice, which suits complex assets.

5. Yorkshire Family Mediation Service

Yorkshire Family Mediation Service, whose registered charity name is West Yorkshire Family Mediation Council Limited, charity number 1057519, is based in Bradford and has operated for over 28 years. Yorkshire Family Mediation Service holds appointments in Leeds, Bradford and York, serves an area extending to Harrogate, and mediates remotely across the UK.

Yorkshire Family Mediation Service holds a Legal Aid Agency contract and takes part in the £500 voucher scheme.

6. Pax Mediation

Pax Mediation traces its origins to Family Mediation North East, founded in 2012, works from Ashington, Northumberland, and holds appointments in Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland, North Shields, Durham and Berwick. Pax Mediation states that it holds a Legal Aid Agency contract and offers free MIAMs to clients who qualify, and all its mediators hold Family Mediation Council accreditation.

7. Kee Mediation

Kee Mediation lists four named Family Mediation Council registered mediators and covers Nottingham, Derby, Beeston, Long Eaton, Nuthall, Hucknall and Belper. Kee Mediation charges £140 per person for a MIAM and £210 per person for a 90-minute joint session, publishes its full fee schedule, and delivers legally aided mediation through a partner service, Children 1st Mediation.

8. Mediation and More

Mediation and More lists four named FMCA accredited mediators and covers Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, the West Midlands and Derbyshire, with online appointments. Each mediator is individually profiled, which makes verification straightforward. Mediation and More holds a Legal Aid Agency contract.

How to check a family mediator's registration yourself

The Family Mediation Council publishes a public register listing each mediator by name and showing whether that mediator holds accreditation. Three checks take under five minutes:

• Find the named mediator on the provider's own website rather than a directory.
• Search that name on the Family Mediation Council register and check whether FMCA is shown.
• Confirm the provider publishes a street address and a company or charity number.

A provider that names no individual mediator cannot pass these checks, and a number of sites offering family mediation do not name one.

Where a check fails, or the mediation goes wrong, the complaint goes first to the mediator's own procedure and then to the Family Mediation Standards Board, which considers complaints where the mediator's own process has been exhausted within the last three months. The Family Mediation Council states that there is no fee for making a complaint. Sanctions include further training, conditions on practice, and suspension or removal of FMCA accreditation or of the mediator's place on the register.

How this list was compiled

Every provider was checked against six criteria:

• Named mediators shown on the provider's own website.
• Family Mediation Council registration or FMCA accreditation for those mediators.
• A verifiable street address.
• A working route to book a MIAM.
• A company number or a registered charity number.
• Evidence of trading for more than two years.

Providers running many near-identical location pages without naming a mediator were excluded.

The order is set by accreditation evidence rather than by size. National Family Mediation appears first because it is itself a member organisation of the Family Mediation Council, which no other provider here is. Mediate UK appears second because it publishes an FMCA panel including Professional Practice Consultants who supervise other mediators in house. The remaining six appear in order of the scale of accredited practice held under a single registration, which places the multi-county charities and the London solicitor-led practice above the two independent practices, each publishing four accredited mediators.

Jurisdiction and legal advice

This article is based on the law of England and Wales. Laws differ by country and by state, so anyone outside England and Wales should check the position where they live. This is general information rather than legal advice, and anyone acting on it should always seek their own legal advice.