About Us

College Of Mediators > About Us

About Us

The College of Mediators was set up in 1996 as the UK College of Family Mediators, an independent regulatory body for family Mediation in the UK. With the creation of the Family Mediation Council in 2007, the College’s remit was widened to include all types of Mediation, as well as family, and it became the College of Mediators. It has since grown and developed across all fields of Mediation and continues to do so. This variety of practice across Mediation areas is reflected in the College membership and the variety of organisations that are College-approved training providers.

The College of Mediators currently has over 350 practising members; membership has increased massively in the past five years and new members continue to join all the time.

The College is managed by its Board of Directors. The directors are drawn from a wide variety of Mediation backgrounds and have a wealth of knowledge and experience to bring to their roles with the College. The board of directors gives up their own time as volunteers for the college and all have full-time occupations.

Vision Statement

What does the College aspire to achieve?
To be the most widely respected and effective professional organisation representing mediators in the UK and internationally.

Mission Statement

How is the vision to be delivered?
By being a respected, valued and trusted representative of the mediation sector to the public, Government, and other groups by explaining how mediation works, the benefits of mediation to the country, and how people can find a mediator.

Our Value Proposition

The College of Mediators is here to:

Training – matching potential mediators with good quality training providers.

Standards – once qualified, to ensure that members delivery a quality service to their clients by writing professional standards.

Represent – our members when working with other groups, such as government.

Educate – the general public about mediation, and to encourage the public to use mediators more often.

Our Objectives

Internal – how we work for our members and potential members

To helping people receive high quality training to become a mediator
To help members build on their qualification with high quality post qualification training
To help members to find job opportunities
To continue to maintain high standards in pre and post qualification training
To at least break even financially each year, by operating in an efficient and effective way

External – how we look outwards and work with other organisations

To establish mediation as a respected profession in its own right, separate from the legal system, by working with other bodies in the mediation sector, such as the Family Mediation Council (FMC) and the Civil Mediation Council (CMC) to explain and promote what mediators do
To educate the public about the benefits of mediation
To contribute to the academic development of the mediation sector
To work with other organisations to establish mediation and mediators in specific areas, such as local government
To liaise with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and other groups to work towards mediation being a legal requirement in all civil cases in the UK judicial system

Ensuring Quality Provision

Mediators often deal with complex and difficult situations affecting important aspects of people’s lives. For this reason, the College of Mediators believes it is very important that mediators are properly qualified and supported and that they keep up with current developments in this growing profession.

All College of Mediators practising members are required to complete training which has been approved by the College and to abide by its Code of Practice. The College requires its members to be properly insured and to have an adequate Complaints Procedure.

The College also has its own Complaints Procedure for those few cases that cannot be resolved locally. Please also see our statement regarding the current complaints procedure.

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