There is no official league table of family mediation services in England and Wales. The Family Mediation Council keeps a register of individual mediators, and the government keeps a register of the organisations contracted to provide legal aid, but nobody ranks providers. So families rely on public review platforms, which is a reasonable starting point and a poor finishing point.
This page ranks ten family mediation providers on five things you can check yourself in about ten minutes: how many public reviews they have, what those reviews average, whether they hold a government legal aid contract, whether they publish their prices, and whether you can book an appointment online. The scoring formula is published in full below, every figure links to its source, and every figure was checked on 1 September 2026.
Who publishes this page, and why that matters
This comparison is published by Mediate UK, which is one of the ten services ranked on it, and which finishes first. That is exactly why we have made the ranking checkable rather than asking you to take our word for it.
Every input is a published number from a source we do not control, the weightings are stated before the table rather than after it, each provider’s component scores are shown so you can recalculate the total, and we have set out below the places where other services beat us. No provider paid to appear here, and no provider can pay to move up. If a different service fits your situation better, use that one.
We also publish our own case outcomes, including the ones that did not work, on our mediation outcomes page.
Key findings, 1 September 2026
- Ten providers were ranked. Scores ranged from 97.5 to 27.5 out of 100.
- Mediate UK scored highest overall at 97.5 out of 100, with 738 public reviews averaging 4.8 out of 5.
- Average ratings across the ten providers ranged from 3.2 to 4.9 out of 5.
- Seven of the ten hold a government legal aid contract for family mediation: Mediate UK, Mediation First, Disputes Mediation, National Family Mediation, South East London Family Mediation Bureau, Direct Mediation Services and The Family Mediation Trust.
- Seven of the ten publish actual prices. Disputes Mediation, Walker Family Law and Calm Mediation do not publish a figure on their websites.
- Four allow you to book an appointment online without waiting for a call back: Mediate UK, Holistic Family Mediation, Direct Mediation Services and Disputes Mediation.
- Ratings for the same provider can differ sharply between platforms. National Family Mediation averages 4.6 on Trustpilot and 2.8 on Google. Both figures are shown below.
Top rated family mediation services in the UK, ranked
Scored out of 100: review volume 30 points, average rating 25 points, government legal aid contract 20 points, published prices 15 points, online booking 10 points. The full methodology and weightings are set out below the table, along with the things this scoring does not measure.
| Rank | Service | Total public reviews | Average rating (out of 5) | Legal aid contract | Publishes prices | Online booking | Score (out of 100) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mediate UK | 738 | 4.8 | Yes | Yes, full price list | Yes | 97.5 |
| 2 | Mediation First | 335 | 4.6 | Yes | Yes, full price list | No, enquiry form | 85.0 |
| 3 | Disputes Mediation | 271 | 4.7 | Yes | No | Yes, free consultation | 76.3 |
| 4 | Direct Mediation Services | 17 | 4.6 | Yes | Yes, full price list | Yes | 70.0 |
| 5 | National Family Mediation (NFM) | 127 | 4.1 | Yes | Partly, a price range only | No, referral form | 66.8 |
| 6 | South East London Family Mediation Bureau | 30 | 4.3 | Yes | Yes, full price list | No, enquiry form | 66.3 |
| 7 | Holistic Family Mediation & Coaching | 92 | 4.9 | No | Yes, full price list | Yes | 63.8 |
| 8 | The Family Mediation Trust | 11 | 3.2 | Yes | Yes, full price list | No, referral form | 47.5 |
| 9 | Walker Family Law | 68 | 4.8 | Not for mediation | No | No, enquiry form | 42.5 |
| 10 | Calm Mediation | 31 | 4.0 | Not for mediation | No | No, call back request | 27.5 |
“Total public reviews” is every review across every public profile we could find and verify for that provider, not the single most flattering one. “Average rating” is those profiles combined, weighted by the number of reviews on each. Table 3 lists every profile individually so you can check the arithmetic. “Legal aid contract” means the organisation appears on the government’s register of legal aid providers for family mediation. “Not for mediation” means the organisation does not appear on that register for family mediation, which is not the same as saying it offers no legal aid at all for other services.
How each provider earned its score
Every component below is a published fact rather than an opinion, so you can add the columns up yourself and get the same total.
| Service | Review volume (30) | Average rating (25) | Legal aid (20) | Published prices (15) | Online booking (10) | Total (100) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mediate UK | 30 | 22.5 | 20 | 15 | 10 | 97.5 |
| Mediation First | 25 | 20.0 | 20 | 15 | 5 | 85.0 |
| Disputes Mediation | 25 | 21.3 | 20 | 0 | 10 | 76.3 |
| Direct Mediation Services | 5 | 20.0 | 20 | 15 | 10 | 70.0 |
| National Family Mediation | 20 | 13.8 | 20 | 8 | 5 | 66.8 |
| South East London Family Mediation Bureau | 10 | 16.3 | 20 | 15 | 5 | 66.3 |
| Holistic Family Mediation & Coaching | 15 | 23.8 | 0 | 15 | 10 | 63.8 |
| The Family Mediation Trust | 5 | 2.5 | 20 | 15 | 5 | 47.5 |
| Walker Family Law | 15 | 22.5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 42.5 |
| Calm Mediation | 10 | 12.5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 27.5 |
Every review profile we used, with links
These are the underlying figures. Where a provider has more than one public profile, all of them are listed and all of them count towards the totals in Table 1. Review counts move, so open the links and check the current figures before you decide anything.
| Service | Platform | Reviews | Rating (out of 5) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mediate UK | Reviews.co.uk | 719 | 4.8 | View profile |
| Mediate UK | Google Business Profile (London) | 5 | 5.0 | View profile |
| Mediate UK | Google Business Profile (Bracknell) | 4 | 5.0 | View profile |
| Mediate UK | Trustpilot | 10 | 3.5 | View profile |
| Mediation First | Trustpilot | 335 | 4.6 | View profile |
| Disputes Mediation | Google Business Profile | 155 | 4.8 | View profile |
| Disputes Mediation | Trustpilot | 116 | 4.6 | View profile |
| Direct Mediation Services | Google Business Profile | 17 | 4.6 | View profile |
| National Family Mediation | Trustpilot | 93 | 4.6 | View profile |
| National Family Mediation | Google Business Profile | 34 | 2.8 | View profile |
| South East London Family Mediation Bureau | Google Business Profile | 30 | 4.3 | View profile |
| Holistic Family Mediation & Coaching | Trustpilot | 50 | 4.8 | View profile |
| Holistic Family Mediation & Coaching | Google Business Profile | 42 | 5.0 | View profile |
| The Family Mediation Trust | Google Business Profile | 11 | 3.2 | View profile |
| Walker Family Law | ReviewSolicitors (firm wide) | 68 | 4.8 | View profile |
| Calm Mediation | Google Business Profile | 31 | 4.0 | View profile |
How we scored these services
Five components, 100 points. The weightings were set before the data was collected, and they were chosen because each one changes what a separating family actually pays or receives.
1. Review volume, 30 points
Banded: 500 or more reviews scores 30, 250 to 499 scores 25, 100 to 249 scores 20, 50 to 99 scores 15, 25 to 49 scores 10, and 10 to 24 scores 5. Bands rather than a straight line, because the difference between 10 reviews and 300 tells you something real, while the difference between 600 and 700 tells you very little.
2. Average rating, 25 points
Calculated as (rating minus 3.0) divided by 2, multiplied by 25. A 5.0 scores the full 25 and a 3.0 or below scores nothing. Ratings below 3.0 are rare on these platforms, so the useful range sits between 3 and 5.
3. Legal aid contract, 20 points
All 20 points if the organisation appears on the government’s Find a legal aid adviser or family mediator register under “family mediation”, otherwise none. Weighted heavily because for a family who qualifies, this is the difference between free mediation and paying several hundred pounds.
4. Published prices, 15 points
15 points for an actual price list on the website, 8 for a range or partial pricing, none if you have to ring up to find out what it costs. A service that will not tell you its prices before you make contact is harder to compare and easier to be surprised by.
5. Online booking, 10 points
10 points if you can choose an appointment slot yourself online, 5 for an enquiry or referral form, none for telephone only. Weighted lowest because a call back is a mild inconvenience rather than a barrier, though it matters if you are working to a court deadline.
Component scores are rounded to one decimal place, rounding halves up. Where a provider has more than one public review profile, the average used is weighted by the number of reviews on each profile, so a 4.8 from 719 reviews is not cancelled out by a 3.5 from 10.
Which review platforms we counted
We counted profiles on Reviews.co.uk, Trustpilot, Google Business Profiles and ReviewSolicitors, because each of those publishes a star rating out of 5 and a review count that anyone can read without logging in. Where a provider has more than one profile on those platforms, including more than one Google listing, every profile we found is counted.
Facebook is not counted for any provider on this page. Facebook records recommendations rather than a rating out of 5, so it cannot be combined with the other platforms into a single average without distorting it.
Which services we included, and which we left out
To appear on this page a service had to offer family mediation in England and Wales as a core part of what it does, and have at least 10 public reviews on an established platform that we could read directly. The 10 review minimum is there because an average built on three or four reviews tells you almost nothing.
Two services that appeared on earlier versions of this page have been removed. The Family Mediation Practice fell below the 10 review minimum, with 6 Google reviews, and we could not load its website to verify its fees or booking process. Amicable has been moved out of the ranking altogether, and there is a section explaining why below.
What this scoring does not measure
- Whether mediation worked. No provider on this list, including us, publishes independently audited outcome data. Reviews measure how the service felt, not whether an agreement was reached and held.
- Review platforms are not equivalent. Reviews.co.uk and Trustpilot allow businesses to invite reviews, while Google reviews are left unprompted, so counts are not strictly like for like across platforms.
- The quality of your particular mediator. Family mediation is delivered by an individual, not an organisation. A well-reviewed service can still allocate you a mediator you do not get on with.
- Coverage and specialism. A small local service with 30 reviews may be a much better fit than a large national one if it is ten minutes from you and knows your local court.
Reading the review data fairly
The same provider can score differently on different platforms. National Family Mediation averages 4.6 across 93 Trustpilot reviews and 2.8 across 34 Google reviews. Disputes Mediation averages 4.8 on Google and 4.6 on Trustpilot. We have shown both figures for both rather than choosing between them. A low average on a head office listing is not a verdict on the mediation itself, particularly for a large charity network with dozens of local offices.
Platforms work differently. Reviews.co.uk and Trustpilot let a business invite reviews from clients it has worked with, so providers that invite them tend to collect more. Google reviews are left unprompted. That is worth knowing when you compare a large review count against a small one.
Every provider here is a real option. The scoring rewards scale, funding and transparency, which is not the same as saying the services lower down are poor. Several are long established charities and local bureaux with decades of experience. If one of them fits your situation better, use it.
Which family mediation services offer legal aid?
If you qualify for legal aid, family mediation is free, and that changes the decision completely. Only organisations holding a Legal Aid Agency contract can provide it, and the government publishes the list. The table below shows which of the ten appear on that register for family mediation, checked on 1 September 2026.
One point that is often missed: if only one of you qualifies, the MIAM and the first full mediation session are covered for both of you, according to the Family Mediation Council. You can check whether you qualify for legal aid in a couple of minutes, or read our guide to legal aid for mediation.
| Service | On the government legal aid register for family mediation | Coverage | Check it yourself |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mediate UK (Family Legal Ltd) | Yes | England and Wales, online and in person | Government register |
| Mediation First | Yes | Multiple offices across England | Government register |
| Disputes Mediation | Yes | West Midlands base, offices nationally | Government register |
| National Family Mediation | Yes | Nationwide charity network | Government register |
| Direct Mediation Services | Yes | Leeds base, nationwide online | Government register |
| South East London Family Mediation Bureau | Yes | Bromley and south east London | Government register |
| The Family Mediation Trust | Yes | East of England, offices across England | Government register |
| Holistic Family Mediation & Coaching | Not listed | Online only, nationwide | Government register |
| Walker Family Law | Not listed for family mediation | South West England, five offices | Government register |
| Calm Mediation | Not listed for family mediation | London, Camberwell base | Government register |
“Not listed” means the organisation did not appear on the register when we searched it on 1 September 2026. It does not mean the organisation offers no legal aid at all, and registers change. If legal aid matters to you, search the register yourself using your own postcode, or ask the service directly.
What each service does, and what it is not
Not everything marketed as help with divorce is family mediation, and only an FMC registered mediator can carry out a MIAM and sign the court form you need to make a family court application. This table sets out what each organisation is, so you do not book the wrong thing.
| Service | What it is | Can it do a MIAM and sign your court form? | Online or in person |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mediate UK | FMC registered family mediation service, with fixed fee legal packages | Yes | Both |
| Mediation First | Family mediation service, also civil and workplace mediation | Yes | Both |
| Disputes Mediation | Full service mediation firm, family plus other dispute types | Yes | Both |
| Direct Mediation Services | FMC accredited family mediation service | Yes | Both |
| National Family Mediation | Charity network of local family mediation services | Yes | Both |
| South East London Family Mediation Bureau | Local family mediation bureau, established over 40 years | Yes | Both, Bromley office |
| Holistic Family Mediation & Coaching | Family mediation and coaching, FMC accredited, also a Resolution member | Yes | Online only |
| The Family Mediation Trust | Charity providing family mediation across the East of England and beyond | Yes | Both |
| Walker Family Law | Firm of solicitors regulated by the SRA (number 570945), offering mediation alongside legal advice | Yes, through its mediators | Both, South West offices |
| Calm Mediation | London charity, largest provider of neighbour mediation in London, with a family mediation service | Contact them to confirm | Both, London |
| Amicable | Not a family mediation service. A legal service for couples divorcing without solicitors. It describes itself as “the trusted legal service for couples” and says it is “more comprehensive than mediation because we also prepare couples’ legal documents and manage the court process”. It is not on the government legal aid register for family mediation, and its website makes no reference to the Family Mediation Council, MIAMs or MIAM certificates. | No | Online |
Amicable is included here for clarity rather than criticism. It has a large and strong Trustpilot profile, 971 reviews at 4.8 as at 1 September 2026, and plenty of people are pleased with it. It is excluded from the ranking because it is a different kind of service, and because if you need a MIAM certificate to make a court application, it cannot give you one.
Family mediation, family solicitors and solicitor mediators: what is the difference?
A lot of people search for “family mediation solicitors” or a “mediation lawyer”, which mixes together three different roles. They do different jobs and most separating couples end up using more than one.
| Family mediator | Family solicitor | Solicitor mediator | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who they act for | Both of you, impartially | You alone | Both of you when mediating, one of you when advising |
| Can give you legal advice | No, legal information only | Yes | Not while acting as your mediator |
| Can carry out a MIAM | Yes, if FMC registered | No | Yes, if FMC registered |
| Can sign your C100 or Form A | Yes, if authorised to sign court forms | No, only a mediator can | Yes, in their mediator role |
| Regulated by | Family Mediation Council standards framework | Solicitors Regulation Authority | Both |
| Typical cost | £130 to £170 per person per hour, per the Family Mediation Council | Usually higher, and each of you pays your own | Mediation rates when mediating |
| Can make your agreement legally binding | No, a solicitor drafts the consent order | Yes | Yes, in their solicitor role |
The common route is mediation to reach the agreement, then a solicitor to turn it into a consent order the court can approve. Of the ten services above, only Walker Family Law is a firm of solicitors. The rest are mediation services, so if you also want legal advice or a binding order you will need a solicitor as well, either their partner firm or your own.
Not sure which route fits your situation?
Book a MIAM to get things moving, check whether you qualify for legal aid, or talk it through with our team first.
Five things to check before you book any mediation service
1. Is your mediator on the FMC register?
The FMC register lists individual mediators, not organisations, so ask for your mediator’s name and look them up. The register also shows whether they are qualified to sign court forms, whether they provide legal aid funded mediation, whether they can see children in mediation, and whether they work online.
2. Do you qualify for legal aid?
If you are on a low income or certain benefits, mediation can be free. Only contracted providers can offer it, so check the government register or use our legal aid checker.
3. How quickly can you get a MIAM?
If you are working to a court deadline, ask for the earliest available appointment, whether they offer online MIAMs, and how quickly they issue a MIAM certificate. An urgent MIAM is worth asking about if time is short.
4. Do they offer the type of mediation you need?
Ask about shuttle mediation if you would rather not be in the same room, child inclusive mediation where it is appropriate, help with financial disclosure, and how safeguarding concerns are handled.
5. What does it cost, in total?
The Family Mediation Council puts typical rates at £130 to £170 per person per hour. Ask what is included, whether documents are charged separately, and whether they will apply for the family mediation voucher scheme, which is worth up to £500 per case for child related disputes and is not means tested.
Our Mediator Match Guarantee
At Mediate UK, if you do not click with your mediator, we will allocate a different mediator for a new MIAM free of charge, provided mediation is suitable for your case.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the best family mediation service in the UK?
There is no official ranking, and “best” depends on what you need. On the scoring used here, Mediate UK scores highest at 97.5 out of 100. If you qualify for legal aid, the seven providers holding a government contract matter more than any score. If you need face to face sessions in a particular town, local coverage decides it.
Is there an official list of approved family mediators?
There are two official registers, but neither ranks anyone. The Family Mediation Council register lists individual mediators who meet its standards. The government’s Find a legal aid adviser register lists organisations contracted to provide legal aid funded family mediation. Any page that claims to be an official ranking, including this one, is not.
Can a solicitor do my MIAM?
Only if that solicitor is also an FMC registered family mediator. A family solicitor who is not a registered mediator cannot carry out a MIAM or sign the mediation section of a C100 or Form A.
How much does family mediation cost in the UK?
The Family Mediation Council says to expect £130 to £170 per person per hour for sessions and documents. Prices on this page ranged from a £100 MIAM to £210 a session. If you qualify for legal aid it is free, and the £500 voucher scheme can cover a large part of the cost for child related disputes.
Why should I trust a comparison published by one of the services on it?
Because you do not have to take it on trust. Every figure links to a source we do not control, the scoring formula and its weightings are published in full so you can recalculate the ranking yourself, and every review profile we found for each provider is listed rather than only the most flattering one. No provider paid for inclusion or for its position. If you find an error, tell us and we will correct it and note the correction.
How often is this page updated?
Every four months, and sooner if something material changes. All figures on this page were verified on 1 September 2026. The next scheduled review is January 2027.
Written by: Jess Knauf, Director of Client Strategy, Family Legal Ltd
Reviewed by: Chris Yaffes FMCA, Accredited Family Mediator at Mediate UK
Editorial oversight: Belinda Atkins, Managing Director, Family Legal Ltd
Data collected and verified: 1 September 2026. Next review: January 2027.
Corrections: if a figure here is wrong or out of date, email admin@mediateuk.co.uk and we will check it against the source and correct the page.
