Pre-mediation Assessment and English Mediation

There is a general requirement for couples to attend MIAM (Medi­ation Assessment Information Meeting), a pre-mediation assessment before issuing an application for a financial order or child-related orders (section 10 (3) of the Children and Families Act 2014).

If, after attending MIAM, the parties wish to proceed with me­diation and their suitability has been assessed then mediation takes place. The English law mediation process is a formal forum governed by four principles set out in the FMC Code of Practice: mediation is voluntary (FMC Code of Practice, 5.2) and both parties and the me­diator must agree mediation is suitable (FMC Code of Practice, 5.3); the mediator is impartial and facilitates negotiation and has no vested interest in the outcome (FMC of Code of Practice, 5.4); mediation is confidential except where there are concerns of risk of harm to a child or vulnerable adult (FMC Code of Practice, 5.5); and the decision­making rests with the parties. These principles are important because Shari’a Councils are not always observing these principles such as impartiality and concerns of risk of harm, especially where scholars are disregarding domestic abuse issues and pursue mediation and rec­onciliation without considering further harm it may cause women and children. Several scholars have addressed domestic abuse and power imbalances in private forum and how to manage mediation in these circumstances using different types of mediation approaches, but it is beyond the scope of this chapter to explore this (Hester and Pearson, 1997; Maclean and Eekelaar, 2016; Webley, 2017).