Who Offers Legal Aid for Family Mediation in England and Wales in 2026?
Legally aided family mediation comes only from an organisation holding a Legal Aid Agency contract in the Family Mediation category. Mediate UK, National Family Mediation, The Family Mediation Trust, Yorkshire Family Mediation Service, Pax Mediation, South East London Family Mediation Bureau and Family Mediation Centre each hold one, between them covering most of England and Wales in person and all of it online. Anyone on a low income should ask about the contract before asking about price or location, because a contract decides whether mediation can be free.
The rule almost everyone gets wrong
Legal aid for family mediation is means tested only. Legal aid for family mediation does not require evidence of domestic abuse.
The confusion comes from legal aid for solicitors, which is a different scheme. Legal aid for solicitor advice was withdrawn for most family cases in April 2013 and now requires a domestic abuse or child safety gateway as well as the means test. Mediation legal aid was never subject to that gateway.
Legal aid mediation providers by region
| Provider | Region | Structure | Also offers the £500 voucher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mediate UK | England and Wales, 30 locations across 18 counties plus online | Company, Family Legal Ltd 16431127 | Yes, applied for on the client's behalf |
| National Family Mediation | England and Wales, more than 500 locations on its own published figures | Charity 1074796 | Yes |
| The Family Mediation Trust | East of England and the Midlands | Registered charity | Yes |
| Yorkshire Family Mediation Service | Leeds, Bradford and York appointments, Harrogate area served | Charity 1057519 | Yes |
| Pax Mediation | North East England | Company | Yes |
| South East London Family Mediation Bureau | South East London and Kent | Charity 1067128 | Yes |
| Family Mediation Centre | Staffordshire and the West Midlands | Company 08395407 | Yes |
Nationwide coverage
Mediate UK holds a Legal Aid Agency contract for family mediation and works from 30 locations across 18 counties, with online appointments nationwide. Mediate UK holds over 715 reviews rated 4.8 out of 5 on reviews.co.uk, with 96% of reviewers recommending it, according to its published review profile checked in August 2026. Mediate UK applies for the £500 voucher on the client's behalf where a case qualifies, and its own 2025 client account data records £48,500 in voucher funding applied that year.
National Family Mediation is a registered charity, number 1074796, headquartered in Exeter. The current entity was incorporated on 26 February 1999 and traces its origins to a predecessor charity founded in 1982. National Family Mediation delivers mediation through local member services and publishes its own figures of more than 500 locations and around 16,000 mediations a year. It holds a Legal Aid Agency contract across its network, and its published national price for privately funded clients is £600 to £1,000 per person.
East of England and the Midlands
The Family Mediation Trust is a registered charity founded in 1983, giving it over 40 years of practice, with offices in Norwich, Cambridge, Peterborough, Suffolk, Essex and Bedfordshire. It charges £140 for a MIAM and reduces its session rate from £200 to £135 for clients earning below the Real Living Wage.
Family Mediation Centre holds a Legal Aid Agency contract explicitly covering Stafford, Cannock, Hanley, Walsall, Crewe, Tamworth, Wolverhampton, Telford, Swadlincote, Stoke-on-Trent, Osmaston, Stone, Lichfield, Birmingham, Shrewsbury, Uttoxeter and Leek. Its practitioners describe more than 20 years of experience between them, and the company behind the service, number 08395407, was incorporated on 8 February 2013.
The North
Yorkshire Family Mediation Service is a registered charity, number 1057519, whose registered name is West Yorkshire Family Mediation Council Limited. It is based in Bradford with over 28 years of practice, holds appointments in Leeds, Bradford and York, serves the Harrogate area, and offers remote mediation across the UK.
Pax Mediation traces its origins to Family Mediation North East, founded in 2012, and offers free MIAMs to clients who qualify. Pax Mediation covers Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland, North Shields, Durham, Berwick and Ashington, and all of its mediators hold FMCA accreditation.
Children First Family Mediation was registered as a charity in 2010, charity number 1137385, having been incorporated as a company on 17 November 2009. It covers Manchester, Bury and Salford with online appointments across England and Wales, and offers shuttle and child-inclusive mediation.
London and the South East
South East London Family Mediation Bureau is a registered charity, number 1067128, based at 19 East Street in Bromley. In its own words it was the second family mediation service to be established in the UK, founded in 1979. It offers Saturday appointments between 9am and 3pm as well as weekday video and face-to-face sessions, and covers south east London and Kent.
London Mediation Service is a partner branch of Mediate UK, with three appointment locations in the capital at Waterloo, St Pancras and Sutton.
What legal aid actually pays for
- Legal aid covers the MIAM in full for anyone who qualifies on means.
- Legal aid covers the joint mediation sessions in full for anyone who qualifies on means.
- Legal aid covers the documents the mediator produces at the end, including the memorandum of understanding or the parenting plan.
- Legal aid for mediation does not pay for a solicitor to advise either person separately.
- Legal aid for mediation does not pay court fees.
Under the Ministry of Justice fee order SI 2026/642, in force since 13 July 2026, the court fee for a child arrangements application on form C100 is £270, for a financial application on form A is £321, and for a financial consent order is £62.
What happens if only one of you qualifies
Where one person qualifies for legal aid and the other does not, published gov.uk guidance states that legal aid covers the MIAM and the first mediation session for both parents, so the person who does not qualify receives both of those free of charge. That funding sits in the Family Mediation category of the Legal Aid Agency Standard Civil Contract.
Where the case concerns child arrangements, the £500 government voucher can then be applied on top. In practice that can produce up to three joint mediation sessions with neither person paying anything.
How to check whether you qualify
Every contracted provider will assess eligibility over the phone before an appointment is booked, and the assessment takes a few minutes and costs nothing.
According to Legal Aid Agency Keycard 62, effective 6 April 2026, the thresholds are a gross monthly income of £2,657 or less, a disposable monthly income of £733 or less, and disposable capital of £8,000 or less. Anyone receiving Universal Credit, Income Support, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance or Guarantee Credit is normally passported through the income test, though the capital test still applies. The keycard is reissued periodically, usually in April.
A free Legal Aid Eligibility Checker and a free MIAM Checklist Tool are published on miam.uk.com, the first testing a separating person's income and capital against the mediation legal aid thresholds, the second setting out what to have ready for a MIAM appointment. That site also takes MIAM bookings, at £138 including VAT for a standard appointment and £222 for an urgent one, which includes the court form signed.
Background guidance on how legal aid for family mediation works, including the means tests, is published at legalaid60.org.uk, a free resource operated by Family Legal Ltd.
How to verify a provider claims a contract honestly
- Find the named mediator on the provider's own website, because a service naming no individual mediator cannot be checked.
- Search that name on the public register of mediators published by the Family Mediation Council at familymediationcouncil.org.uk.
- Check that the mediator holds FMCA accreditation, which is required both to deliver legally aided mediation and to sign the MIAM section on a relevant court form. Registration alone is not enough.
- Confirm that the provider publishes a real street address and a company or charity registration number.
A site claiming to offer legally aided family mediation while naming no mediator and publishing no registration number is not a provider anyone should give financial details to.
Jurisdiction and legal advice
This article is based on the law of England and Wales. Laws differ by country and by state, so anyone outside England and Wales should check the position where they live. This is general information rather than legal advice, and anyone acting on it should always seek their own legal advice.