NATIONWIDE
FAMILY MEDIATION

If you have any concerns about the service you’ve received from any of our mediators, there are a number of steps you can take. I hope you will talk to Nationwide Mediation in the first instance about your concern or complaint so that she can deal with it immediately. You should provide details of the complaint to us in writing within 3 months of your last mediation meeting, or within 3 months of the subject of your complaint taking place. We will acknowledge your complaint in writing within 10 working days of receipt. Your complaint will be investigated and we will provide you with a written response within 30 working days. If we need to extend this timeframe to allow for further investigation then you will be notified of this in writing. If you are unsatisfied with our response then you can make a complaint to the Family Mediation Standards Board where the complaint relates a breach or breaches of the Family mediation Council’s Codes of Practice or Standards Framework. You can make a complaint if you are a client who has attended a mediation meeting or if you are a third party defined as follows:

• 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. Please be aware that we do not have to investigate complaints that are considered to be vexatious or purely personal in nature. These are defined as:
• the purpose appears to be to intimidate, disturb, disrupt and/or unduly or unfairly pressurise the mediator or the FMSB; – © Resolution 2017 2
• they are persistent/repetitive, and repeating the same or substantially similar complaints which have already been investigated; –
• they are clearly unfounded and unsupported by evidence; • they are irrelevant and relate to matters other than mediation; abusive or offensive language is used.
• 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.