Friday, February 22, 2013

How will you access Publicly Funded Mediation after April 1st?






The vast majority of Publicly Funded Mediation clients are referred to a Mediator via their Publicly Funded solicitor. Currently the solicitor is paid a fee by the Legal Services Commission for doing so. That fee will no longer exist from April 1, 2013.

How then will they find a Mediator? Will solicitors take their instructions and refer them on for free? Will they find the Mediator via Google? Citizens Advice ?

The Government has not signposted this properly.

Perhaps the courts will issue a leaflet pointing people towards free Mediation. By the time people access the court system however they have already issued their Divorce Petition.

Perhaps the new system will simply flow without the chaos envisaged by the majority of people working within it.




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