NFM made a Freedom of Information request to the government’s Ministry of Justice and found that just one in five couples attended a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (MIAM) before proceeding through the courts. This has been a compulsory requirement since April 2004 that couples attend an MIAM before filing a court order for divorce, but it is clearly not being met.

What is a MIAM for?

The aim of compulsory MIAMs is twofold. Firstly, the new rules aim to ease the pressure on the UK’s overstretched divorce courts but most importantly, it provides couples with a way to negotiate better divorce terms for all involved, especially their children.

Liverpool family law solicitors Tracey Miller see hundreds of couples coming for help with acrimonious and bitter divorce battles every year, some of which can be hugely damaging for children and dependents as well as the separating couples themselves. Mediation offers the chance to talk over issues, make agreements in a less formal setting and discuss what is best for everyone, in the presence of a professional mediator. Without such a step, cases can quickly turn ugly, with couples using legal paperwork and the court system to fire shots at each other rather than talking things through. Of course, not all issues can be resolved by mediation, but it should at least be tried – the likelihood of mediation being effective is what MIAMs aim to discover,

The CEO of National Family Mediation, Jane Robey, offered a comment on the findings of the FOI request to Family Law Week:

"The government's aim was to introduce a less confrontational alternative to court, but the huge majority are ignoring the law. It's a shocking government failure. Things are slowly improving but at this rate it will be 2022 before this 2014 policy is actually in place and being properly complied with. Ministers need to address this embarrassing failure by listening to mediation professionals who can advise on turning things around.

"This is about so much more than government failure. It's about the future of tens of thousands of families who could be using mediation to shape a bright future beyond divorce or separation: one that that doesn't involve years of conflict and court room battles."

The data showed that of the 18,000 or so private divorce applications recorded in the first quarter of 2016, less than 4,000 Mediation Information and Assessment Meetings were undertaken. While NFM may be disappointed by these figures, they do at least represent an improvement in uptake (up to 22% from just 7%) compared to 2015.

For expert advice on mediation and the divorce process, contact Liverpool and Wirral divorce lawyers Tracey Miller for a friendly chat.