The Mediation Process

Initiating contact with the mediation service

To initiate mediation, one party will usually make contact with the mediation co-ordinator. This may be a unilateral decision or as a referral from a line manager, trade union, the Equality and Diversity Office, or other service.

The mediation coordinator will provide details about mediation and request a broad outline of the case to ensure it is mediatable.

If the first party is still happy to proceed, the mediation coordinator will contact the other party to discuss mediation and ask if they are happy to proceed. As the process is voluntary, if the second party refuses mediation it will not be possible to go any further at this point.

If both parties agree to continue, a date will be arranged when both are available and mediators will be identified.

Individual meetings

Before the mediation can begin, each party will meet with the mediators on an individual basis. This is often on the same day as the mediation, but can be up to one week beforehand if necessary.

These meetings allow each party to discuss their views with the mediators and to collect any further information they need about the process. Nothing discussed in the separate meetings will be disclosed to the other party by the mediators.

The meetings usually last around an hour. Before arriving at the meetings, the parties will have been asked to sign an agreement which explains the process for the mediation and commits everybody to confidentiality. The mediators will collect these at this point and will answer any questions the parties have about the agreement.

The mediation

When the mediation begins, both parties will be invited to come together for a discussion facilitated by the mediators.

The mediators will outline the structure of the meeting and will then proceed to invite each party to speak about their concerns for a specified amount of time, completely uninterrupted.

After both parties have had an opportunity to speak, each will have a chance to respond to what they have heard, and with the mediators' assistance they will agree on the issues that need to be covered.

The issues will then be discussed in turn by the parties, with the mediators managing the conversation where need be. It may be that areas of common ground arise about which the parties are able to form an agreement.

Any agreements that are made by the parties will be summarised by the mediators and the parties will be asked if they want these to be written down to take away with them. These agreements will remain confidential after the end of the mediation. All other notes taken during the mediation will be destroyed. These include the mediators' notes as well as any taken by the parties.

The mediation usually lasts for around three to four hours, including a break.

Follow Up

After the mediation, the mediators will report back to the mediation co-ordinator whether the process has formed any agreements (no information about what was discussed will be disclosed).

Around a month after the mediation, the mediation coordinator will contact the two parties to obtain feedback about the process, in order to track the effectiveness of mediation and to improve the service for future users.

The Mediation Process

Initiating contact with the mediation service

Individual meetings

The mediation

Follow Up

Mediation Flowchart

Want to know more?

Glossary