----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

i.          Please read these Notes with care and complete the attached form in full.

ii          This is a pilot scheme.  It is appreciated by the CMC that there may be room for improvements and modifications.  The CMC expressly seeks feedback during the two years of intended operation.  This will be coordinated and an open meeting will be held in 2007 to consider the lessons learned.  Feedback will be coordinated by the Secretary (cmcadmin@clara.co.uk). 

iii.        The CMC wishes to make clear that it has no mandate to regulate or accredit individual mediators.  This pilot scheme applies to organisations, bodies, groups, societies, centres and the like collectively described as providers.  The provider will continue to carry the burden of ensuring that the individual mediator is appropriately trained, insured, supervised, allocated and supported.

iv.        Although there are no restrictions on applications, candidate providers should be aware that the pilot scheme has been designed by the CMC initially to meet the requirements of the various County Court mediation schemes and the National Mediation Helpline run as part of the Department for Constitutional Affairs’ commitment to better dispute resolution.  This is largely because there is an opportunity for structured research and validation in these contexts. 

v.         In order to keep costs to a minimum, the CMC does not have a large administration.  Applicants are therefore advised that applications may take six weeks to process although an acknowledgement should be received by return. 

vi         Please note the requirement for a senior official of each candidate provider  personally to sign and date a Statement Of Truth certifying that the contents of the application form are true and accurate, upon which the CMC may rely. 

vii.       Please also note that by completing the application form you are authorising the CMC to hold all data on the Secretary’s computer and for it to be shared with officers of the CMC, including members of the accreditation committee and your consent will be so implied for the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1984.  If you are concerned by this, please contact the Secretary.

viii.      Finally, it is intended to publish the names and contact details of each accredited organisation, along with all the information highlighted on the application form, on the CMC’s website.  If you are unwilling for this to happen, please inform the Secretary.

“4.2     to create a culture of best practice by encouraging research, continuing education and quality standards in the field; by issuing codes of good practice; and by conducting accreditation of mediation providers and through them individual mediators;”

 “Accreditation of Mediation Providers

24.       Mediation Providers shall be accredited by the Board on behalf of the Council if they:

24.1     satisfy the Board that they have reached the standards required by the Board as determined from time to time; and

24.2     have paid the annual membership fee for an Accredited Mediation Provider due to the Council

25.       Such Mediation Providers who meet the criteria set by the Board under Article 24 above shall be entitled to describe themselves as “Accredited by the Civil Mediation Council”. 

26.       Accreditation shall be carried out annually using such systems and methodology as the Board may consider appropriate.  The Secretary to the Council shall maintain a list of all current Accredited Mediation Providers which shall be open to public inspection. 

27.       Mediators are not accredited by the Council.  Mediators are accredited by Accredited Mediation Providers, or the professional bodies in Article 5.3 above who shall apply the same standards in accrediting mediators as those required by the Board of Accredited Mediation Providers.”

3.         The CMC encourages diversity within its constitution as follows:

“33.     The Council will be an equal opportunities body and employer.  It will foster and encourage Board membership, representation, and involvement by and with all sections of the community.”

4.         The CMC has been mandated by its members at the last Annual General Meeting to grow to embrace wider sections of the mediation community.  Part of this includes accrediting a wide range of mediation providers who must meet basic but important criteria.   

5.         The CMC has discussed this pilot scheme with a wide range of stakeholders, the government and the judiciary, users and mediators.  It is, however, a pilot scheme and will be subject to careful review after 24 months.

6.         The CMC believes that the characteristics to be expected of a competent mediation provider can be crystallised.  Such characteristics engender trust, efficiency and professionalism, and reinforce neutrality and confidence. 

7.         The characteristics to be examined by the CMC in the pilot scheme when assessing a candidate provider are broadly:

(a)        Adequate mediator training - the method by which the candidate has and will continue to admit mediators to membership of its panel, list or group: this includes the minimum training requirement it sets for candidate members, the means by which it assesses whether that training is sufficient and whether the candidate has a sufficient understanding of role and duties of a mediator to be appropriate for admission.  The CMC has based its initial criteria on practice within the civil mediation community in the UK and abroad but will refine and may revise its requirements in due course following research work to be conducted in parallel to this pilot scheme on the effectiveness of mediator training, performance and outcomes.

(b)        Code of Conduct – whether the provider has instituted or adopted, and implements, an appropriate Code of Conduct for its members to follow: the CMC endorsed and adopted the EU Model Code of Conduct for Mediators in 2004 and expects that the Code should be embraced by an accredited mediation provider.

(c)        Supervision and Monitoring – the means by which the provider provides adequate and appropriate supervision, mentoring, monitoring and pupillage for its mediators; the provider’s CPD policy and programme or requirements; the scheme the provider adopts for handling complaints and feedback; and the opportunity for peer review. 

(d)       Insurance – whether the provider can demonstrate that it has adequate insurance in place for the activities it and its members undertake.

(e)        Efficient administration – whether the provider can demonstrate that it has a suitable and sufficient efficient administration proportionate to and for the work and workload it undertakes, including the handling of enquiries, the recording of calls, the accurate accounting for fees and the proper rendering of bills to the consumer.

(f)        Allocation of mediators – the method by which the provider can demonstrate that it ensures (save where the parties decide their own choice of mediator) that an appropriately trained, experienced and skilled mediator is allocated to each case with which it deals. 

8.         In order to be qualified at the inception of this programme a provider must meet the following minimum requirements:

(1)        An Accredited Mediation Provider’s mediators must have successfully completed an assessed training course.

(2)        That course must include training in ethics, mediation theory, mediation practice, negotiation, and role play exercises. 

(3)        If the mediator is not professionally qualified in a discipline which includes law, the mediator must demonstrate a grasp of basic contract law. 

(4)        Performance during or on completion of training must be assessed. 

(5)        The training course will include not less than 24 hours of tuition and role-play followed by a formal assessment. 

(6)        An Accredited Mediation Provider will also be expected to require its mediators will be required to have attended at least two mediations as an observer before acting as the appointed mediator.

(1)        An Accredited Mediation Provider must have an appropriate written Code of Conduct for its members to follow.

(2)        That written code must be no less rigorous than EU Model Code of Conduct for Mediators published in 2004. 

(1)        An Accredited Mediation Provider must have in place a written complaints handling procedure and keep written records of any complaints. 

(2)        An Accredited Mediation Provider must have a feedback system under which it invites, receives, assesses and reviews, internally and with the mediator, comments by the parties and their lawyers in respect of mediations.

(1)        An Accredited Mediation Provider must either provide or require mediators to obtain and provide evidence of professional liability insurance cover of not less than £1,000,000.

(2)        Where mediators are doing work involving sums exceeding this amount, an Accredited Mediation Provider must have appropriate insurance cover in place and be able to provide evidence of the same. 

10.       All candidate providers applying for accreditation under this pilot scheme must complete the application form.

11.       The CMC takes the view that provided the minimum requirements in paragraph 8 are met, there are no "correct" or "incorrect" answers to the questions on the application form and every application will be assessed on its collective merits in the context of the work undertaken. 

12.       If a candidate provider considers that there are exceptional reasons why it should be accredited despite not meeting one or more of the requirements, then it should state these reasons in writing for the CMC to consider. 

13.       The CMC has established an accreditation sub-committee consisting of experienced independent mediators and members of mediation organisations.  This will operate under the direction of the Board of the CMC. 

14.       Candidate providers may at any time submit the attached application form in hard copy, duly signed, together with the fee for entering the accreditation process (£250 - which is in addition to the annual membership fee), to:

            The Secretary of the Civil Mediation Council;

            East Highlands; Trull Road 

            Taunton; Somerset TA1 4QN

15.       Candidate providers are also asked to submit electronic copies of the completed form to: cmcadmin@clara.co.uk  to ease circulation of the applications to members of the committee.

16.       Applications will be acknowledged by return of email once the signed hard copy has been received.  They will then be sent to members of the committee and examined.  The CMC will in the ordinary course notify the candidate provider of its decision within six weeks of the acknowledgement of receipt of the application.

17.       In the event that the CMC has further questions for the candidate provider, then these will be emailed for reply by email, with a hard copy of the reply to be signed by an authorised official and sent to the Secretary of the CMC.

18.       In some instances, the CMC may request to visit or meet members of the candidate provider to ensure that it is satisfied or to clarify any outstanding issues in its consideration.

19.       Where on first assessment the CMC believes that the candidate provider may not meet the criteria for accreditation the CMC will, if it is appropriate, make recommendations to the candidate provider and allow the candidate provider a reasonable time to submit confirmation that those recommendations have been implemented before making a final decision.  This is part of the CMC’s objective to work to promoting higher standards and best practice in the widest possible mediation community rather than exclude through unreasonable imposition. 

20.       Where the CMC accreditation committee is not satisfied that the candidate provider meets the criteria for accreditation it will so notify the candidate provider with reasons.  The candidate provider may then request that the full Board of the CMC consider any submissions it may wish to make.  The Chairman of the CMC will, on completion of the full Board’s consideration, notify the decision to the candidate provider. 

21.       The Civil Mediation Council reserves the right to limit the use of the phrases:

            (c)        “Accredited by the Civil Mediation Council”

to those providers who have been accredited under the procedures of the CMC.  In the event that an organisation uses such phrases without the authority of the CMC appropriate action will be taken.

22.       Where a candidate provider is successful in being accredited it may use either of the phrases in paragraph 21 in its literature or advertising providing the same is in accordance with the ethical and professional standards required under the Constitution of the CMC. 

23.       All information provided to the CMC will be held and treated strictly as commercial in confidence and will not be copied or circulated other than to the relevant members of the accreditation committee.  Each and every member of that committee undertakes not to use, communicate or refer to the information provided save in the course of the accreditation procedure. 

24.       Records will only be retained by the Secretary of the CMC.  In the event that there is a concern over confidentiality issues, please contact the Secretary.

Published with the authority of the

Board of the Civil Mediation Council

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

APPLICATION FOR ACCREDITATION AS A MEDIATION PROVIDER

PILOT SCHEME APPLICATION FORM – 2005/2006

Please note:          (1) the space in the right hand column can be expanded as needed

(2) the information sought in boxes highlighted yellow may be web published