FMA Best Practice for Members Mediation Complaints Procedure

FMA RECOMMENDED BEST PRACTICE
MEMBERS’ MEDIATION COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE
The FMA Members’ Complaints Procedure (The Procedure) for dealing with any complaints
received from Mediation clients is designed to uphold the FMA Code of Practice for Family
Mediation (the Code of Practice) and to assist in the swift and satisfactory resolution of any
complaints. FMA recommends that all members adopt this procedure; members are required to use
the FMA Agreement to Mediate, and all references within the procedure to the Agreement to
Mediate are to the FMA Agreement to Mediate.
It is the Mediator’s responsibility to consider whether he or she has any obligations regarding
and/or when and whether to report any complaint to the Mediator’s insurers or under any
obligations under the terms and conditions of the Mediator’s engagement/employment.
At the outset of Mediation clients must be given the name, position and contact details of a
person engaged with the Mediator’s service to whom they should refer any complaint,
together with details of the Mediator’s complaints process for use in the event that the client is
dissatisfied with the Mediator’s professional practice. At the outset of Mediation all Mediation
clients will enter into the FMA Agreement to Mediate, which provides advance consent to the
release of the Mediation file for the purposes of investigating any complaint.
In the event that a complaint is made by a client, FMA Mediators and their PPCs should adhere to
the following procedure:-
STAGE 1
1. Contact with the client(s)
a) Acknowledge complaint – Any complaint received by a Mediator should receive an initial
response and/or acknowledgement within 5 working days or as soon as is reasonably practicable,
together with an explanation as to when the clients (s) will next be contacted. This response may be
made by telephone to see if the matter may be resolved informally but must in any event be
recorded in writing; and kept on the Mediator’s Mediation case file.
b) Written response – Where a complaint cannot be dealt with informally the Mediator must, within
14 days of the initial response/acknowledgement, or as soon as reasonably practicable, respond to
the clients in writing, and must also send written copies of all correspondence to the Mediator’s
PPC or other person responsible for dealing with complaints within the Mediation service (other
person responsible for complaints).
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FMA Administration Office:
The Family Mediators Association, Glenfinnan Suite, Braeview House, 9/11
Braeview Place, East Kilbride, G74 3XH
Scotland, UK
Tel: 01355 244 594
E-Mail: [email protected]
Fax: 01355 249 959
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c) The other party – Where the Mediator’s PPC or other person responsible for complaints is able to
assist the Mediator to resolve the complaint at this early stage, the Mediator’s PPC or other person
responsible for complaints should decide whether the other party to the Mediation should be
informed that a complaint has been received.
d) Offer a meeting – Where a complaint cannot be dealt with informally, the Mediator’s service
should consider offering to meet with the client or both clients where both are parties to the
complaint. Written records for any meeting and discussions must be kept both on the clients’ and on
the Mediator’s files. Any such meeting may include the Mediator, the Mediator’s PPC or other
person responsible for complaints, or an independent mediator. (FMA strongly recommends that
sole mediators consider inviting an independent mediator to be present at any such meeting.)
2. Informing the PPC and/or any other person responsible for dealing with Complaints.
The Mediator must inform the PPC and/or any other person responsible for complaints of any
formal complaint in accordance with 1(b) above. If the Mediator is able to resolve the complaint
with the client, then written records of the nature of the complaint and its resolution, together with
all the associated correspondence, should be kept on the file and shared with the Mediator’s PPC at
the next supervision session.
STAGE 2
a) In the event that the Mediator is unable to resolve the complaint with the client, then within 14
days of the Mediator’s initial written response to the client, or as soon as reasonably practicable, the
Mediator’s PPC and/or other person responsible for complaints should be asked to review the
complaint and any unsuccessful attempts to resolve it.
b) Where the Mediator’s PPC and/or other person responsible for complaints is unable to conduct
an independent review of the case (for example where that person has been acting as a CoMediator) then within 14 days of the Mediator’s initial written response to the client, or as soon as
reasonably practicable, either another PPC or another person responsible for dealing with
complaints within the Mediation service should be appointed to review the complaint.
c) The Mediator or other person responsible for complaints must ensure that the clients are told in
writing as soon as reasonably practicable who will be reviewing the complaint.
d) If the Mediation has not concluded, the PPC and/or other person responsible for complaints
should tell the Mediator in writing before the next clients’ next Mediation session or as soon as
reasonably practicable whether or not the Mediation should continue.
e) The PPC or other person responsible for complaints will discuss the complaint as fully as
possible with the Mediator (s) within 14 days of the conclusion of this Stage 2 process and, if
possible, seek to agree the next step that should be taken in the event that no resolution of the
complaint can be agreed.
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FMA Administration Office:
The Family Mediators Association, Glenfinnan Suite, Braeview House, 9/11
Braeview Place, East Kilbride, G74 3XH
Scotland, UK
Tel: 01355 244 594
E-Mail: [email protected]
Fax: 01355 249 959
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STAGE 3
Status of Complaint – to be assessed by Mediator’s PPC
It is hoped that the procedure in Stages 1 and 2 will assist the Mediator and the client to resolve any
complaints. If issues are unresolved or if the client remains dissatisfied and wishes to pursue the
complaint against the Mediator then the following process is to be followed. The Mediator must
inform his or her PPC (whether or not the PPC has been involved in the earlier stages) within 14
days of being informed by the client that the complaint remains unresolved after following the
processes at Stages 1 and 2. The Mediator must also, within 14 days of being informed by the client
that the complaint remains unresolved, provide his PPC with full details of the unresolved
complaint(s) including a written record of all attempts to resolve the complaint by the Mediator or
the person responsible for dealing with complaints within the Mediation service. A copy of these
documents together with the contact details of the Mediator’s PPC should be provided to the client.
The PPC should take appropriate action to assess the status of the complaint including, if
appropriate, a written invitation to the client to comment on the Mediator’s report of the complaint.
If the other party to the Mediation has not already been informed about the complaint, the PPC
should decide at this third stage whether the other party to the Mediation should now be informed.
The PPC’s assessment of the status of the complaint should be provided in writing to the Mediator
and to the client within 28 days of receipt of all documents including a response from both the
Mediator and the client. The PPC will classify the status of the complaint as either:a) A minor complaint – A complaint which in the opinion of the Mediator’s PPC does not constitute
a potential breach of the FMA’s Code of Practice.
b) A serious complaint – A complaint which in the opinion of the Mediator’s PPC constitutes a
potential breach of the FMA’s Code of Practice.
STAGE 4
Dealing with the Complaint
a) Minor complaint – If the PPC feels that there are grounds to justify a minor complaint, the PPC
should make whatever recommendation(s) he/she sees fit to the Mediator(s). Such
recommendations must be recorded in writing by the PPC and be made available to FMA if asked
for. Any investigation into any complaint and the action that is being taken to resolve it must not
only be recorded in writing but also copied to the client and to the Mediator, and the Mediator must
notify the PPC within 14 days of receipt of the recommendation, stating whether or not he/she
accepts the recommendation. If the Mediator does not accept the recommendation of the PPC then
the complaint becomes a serious complaint and will be treated accordingly. If the client does not
accept the recommendation of the PPC, the client may take the complaint to FMA, but FMA will
not consider a complaint unless (a) the Mediation service’s complaints process has been exhausted;
and (b) FMA considers, on review, that the complaint is in fact a serious one.
b) Serious complaint – Where it is considered that there may be a serious complaint or where
agreement has not been reached between the PPC and the Mediator(s) as to a mutually acceptable
way to deal with a minor complaint within the 14 day period provided in 4 (a) above then:
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FMA Administration Office:
The Family Mediators Association, Glenfinnan Suite, Braeview House, 9/11
Braeview Place, East Kilbride, G74 3XH
Scotland, UK
Tel: 01355 244 594
E-Mail: [email protected]
Fax: 01355 249 959
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The PPC may apply in writing to the FMA enclosing the Mediator’s complaint file within 28 days
for the complaint to be referred to FMA’s Complaints and Disciplinary Committee (the
Committee).
The Mediator’s complaint file must include:
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The PPC’s file in relation to the complaint
All correspondence with the complainant
All correspondence with the other Mediation client
A copy of the Mediator’s own complaints procedure
Copies of all other documents including the Agreement to Mediate
Reasons for the exclusion of any documentation from the Mediator’s file
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FMA Administration Office:
The Family Mediators Association, Glenfinnan Suite, Braeview House, 9/11
Braeview Place, East Kilbride, G74 3XH
Scotland, UK
Tel: 01355 244 594
E-Mail: [email protected]
Fax: 01355 249 959
PDF created with pdfFactory trial version www.pdffactory.com

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