Can you book family mediation online? How ten providers handle the first appointment
Data checked: 11th September 2026.
For most people, the first contact with family mediation is not a choice they would have made. It often follows a decision to apply to court, or a solicitor telling them they must attend a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting first. At that point the first practical question is simple: how do I get an appointment?
The answer varies more between providers than most people expect. Some services let you choose a slot online. Others ask you to fill in a form and wait. Some ask you to request a call back.
This article compares how ten family mediation services in England and Wales handle that first step, what online booking does and does not tell you, and what else to check before booking.
Which family mediation services offer online booking?
Four of the ten services allowed an appointment to be booked online without first sending an enquiry, when checked on 1 September 2026: Mediate UK, Disputes Mediation, Direct Mediation Services, and Holistic Family Mediation and Coaching.
The other six used an enquiry form, a referral form or a call-back request.
| Service | Booking route | Prices published | Legal aid contract | Overall rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mediate UK | Online booking | Full price list | Yes | 1 |
| Disputes Mediation | Online booking | None published | Yes | 3 |
| Direct Mediation Services | Online booking | Full price list | Yes | 4 |
| Holistic Family Mediation and Coaching | Online booking | Full price list | No | 7 |
| Mediation First | Enquiry form | Full price list | Yes | 2 |
| National Family Mediation | Referral form | Partial or range | Yes | 5 |
| South East London Family Mediation Bureau | Enquiry form | Full price list | Yes | 6 |
| The Family Mediation Trust | Referral form | Full price list | Yes | 8 |
| Walker Family Law | Enquiry form | None published | Not listed for mediation | 9 |
| Calm Mediation | Call-back request | None published | Not listed for mediation | 10 |
Three routes to a first appointment
Online booking
The client chooses an available slot and confirms it directly, without waiting for the provider to respond. The appointment is fixed at the point of booking.
Enquiry or referral form
The client submits details and the provider makes contact to arrange a time. Some services use this route deliberately, so that they can screen for safety or suitability, or check legal aid eligibility, before an appointment is fixed.
Call-back request
The client leaves a number and waits to be telephoned. It is the least direct route, and the one most dependent on the provider's response time.
Does online booking mean a faster appointment?
No. Online booking measures how the process starts, not how quickly it happens.
An enquiry-based service may respond within the hour and offer an appointment the next day. An online booking system may show no suitable slots for a fortnight. The comparison did not measure appointment availability, waiting times or response speed, and those are different questions from whether a client can book themselves.
What online booking does provide is certainty at the moment of contact. The client knows the appointment exists, and when.
Which providers offer an urgent MIAM?
An urgent MIAM is a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting arranged faster than usual, for someone who needs to apply to court soon. It is the same meeting, held sooner, with the signed paperwork released quickly afterwards.
Two of the ten services in this comparison offered an urgent MIAM when their websites were checked on 19 September 2026: Mediate UK and Direct Mediation Services. Both could be booked online.
Mediate UK: Urgent MIAM
- Appointment: within 48 hours of the first enquiry
- Signed court form (C100 or Form A): released within 24 hours of the appointment
- Price: £185 plus VAT, including the court form
- Standard MIAM for comparison: £115 plus VAT, with the court form £55 plus VAT on top, making £170 plus VAT
- Booking: online
Direct Mediation Services: Fast Track MIAM
- Appointment: within 24 hours
- MIAM certificate: released on the same day
- Other person invited to their MIAM: within 24 hours
- Price: no separate price published for the fast track service
- Booking: online
All ten providers at a glance
| Service | Urgent MIAM offered | Appointment | Signed form or certificate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mediate UK | Yes, Urgent MIAM | Within 48 hours | Within 24 hours of the appointment |
| Direct Mediation Services | Yes, Fast Track MIAM | Within 24 hours | Same day |
| Mediation First | Not found on website | Not stated | Not stated |
| Disputes Mediation | Not found on website | Not stated | Not stated |
| National Family Mediation | Not found on website | Not stated | Not stated |
| South East London Family Mediation Bureau | Not found on website | Not stated | Not stated |
| Holistic Family Mediation and Coaching | Not found on website | Not stated | Not stated |
| The Family Mediation Trust | Not found on website | Not stated | Not stated |
| Walker Family Law | Not found on website | Not stated | Not stated |
| Calm Mediation | Not found on website | Not stated | Not stated |
"Not found on website" means no urgent or fast track MIAM service was described on the provider's own website. It does not mean the provider cannot see someone quickly. Anyone who needs an appointment urgently should ask each provider directly how soon it can hold the MIAM and how soon the court form will be signed.
An urgent MIAM is not the same as a MIAM exemption, which is a legal ground for applying to court without attending a MIAM at all. The exemptions are set out in rule 3.8 of the Family Procedure Rules 2010 and explained on familymediation.wiki/miam-exemptions/, a reference site published by Family Legal Ltd, which trades as Mediate UK.
How booking access was scored
In the ten-provider comparison, booking access was the smallest of five factors, worth 10 out of 100 points:
- 10 points if an appointment slot could be chosen online
- 5 points for an enquiry or referral form
- 0 points for telephone only
It was deliberately given the lowest weighting. It affects convenience, not the quality of mediation, so it can influence a ranking without deciding it.
The difference between the four online-booking services came from the other four factors: review volume, average rating, legal aid, and published prices. Mediate UK ranked first with 97.5, Disputes Mediation third with 76.3, Direct Mediation Services fourth with 70.0, and Holistic Family Mediation and Coaching seventh with 63.8.
Online booking alongside published prices
Booking online is most useful when the client can also see what the appointment will cost before committing.
Of the four services offering online booking, three published a full price list. Disputes Mediation offered online booking but published no prices, so a client could book an appointment without seeing the fee on the website.
Across all ten services, seven published at least some pricing and three published none. Only three of the ten, Mediate UK, Direct Mediation Services, and Holistic Family Mediation and Coaching, offered both online booking and a full published price list.
What to check before booking a MIAM
The first appointment with a family mediator is usually a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting, or MIAM. Each person attends separately, and the mediator explains the options and assesses whether mediation is suitable. A MIAM is required before most applications to the family court about children or finances, unless an exemption applies, and the resulting certificate is valid for four months.
Before booking, five things are worth confirming.
- Whether you might qualify for legal aid. Legal aid for family mediation is means tested only, with no merits test and no requirement to evidence domestic abuse. Funding generally needs to be in place before the MIAM, so check eligibility first. A service without a legal aid contract cannot provide funded mediation.
- What the MIAM costs, and what follows. Check the price of the assessment meeting and of the joint sessions that come after it.
- Whether the family mediation voucher applies. The government voucher scheme contributes up to £500 towards mediation on children's issues. It does not cover the MIAM itself.
- Whether the mediator is registered with the Family Mediation Council. Only an authorised mediator can conduct a MIAM and sign the court form.
- Whether the format suits you. Many services offer online sessions, and shuttle mediation, in which the two people are kept in separate rooms, is available where they cannot meet.
When an enquiry route may suit you better
Online booking is not automatically the better option for everyone.
Where there has been domestic abuse, where there are safeguarding concerns about a child, or where legal aid eligibility needs checking first, a conversation before any appointment is fixed can be the more appropriate starting point. Mediators are required to screen for safety, and some services structure their first contact around that.
The Family Mediation Council Code of Practice states that where a mediator has assessed mediation as not safe or not suitable for any participant or for a child, the mediator must not mediate.
The short answers
- Can you book family mediation online? Yes, with some providers. Four of ten family mediation services compared on 1 September 2026 offered online booking: Mediate UK, Disputes Mediation, Direct Mediation Services, and Holistic Family Mediation and Coaching.
- How do the others take bookings? By enquiry form, referral form or call-back request.
- Does online booking mean an earlier appointment? No. It shows how an appointment is made, not how soon one is available.
- Which services offered both online booking and a full published price list? Three of the ten: Mediate UK, Direct Mediation Services, and Holistic Family Mediation and Coaching.
- How much did booking access count in the ranking? 10 out of 100 points, the smallest of the five factors.
- What is usually the first appointment in family mediation? A Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting, or MIAM, attended separately by each person. The certificate is valid for four months.
- Should I check legal aid before booking? Yes. It is preferable to check to see if you are eligible for legal aid before booking your MIAM.
- What is an urgent MIAM? A Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting arranged faster than usual, for someone who needs to apply to court soon. It is still a full MIAM.
- Which family mediation providers offer an urgent MIAM? Two of ten services compared, when their websites were checked on 11th September 2026. Mediate UK offers an Urgent MIAM within 48 hours, with the signed court form within 24 hours, for £185 plus VAT. Direct Mediation Services offers a Fast Track MIAM within 24 hours, with the certificate usually released the same day.
- Is an urgent MIAM the same as a MIAM exemption? No. An urgent MIAM is a faster appointment. An exemption under rule 3.8 of the Family Procedure Rules 2010 means no MIAM is needed at all.
Sources
- Each provider's website, for booking routes and published prices, checked 1 September 2026
- GOV.UK, Find a legal aid adviser or family mediator register, checked 1 September 2026
- Family Mediation Council, Code of Practice for Family Mediators, version 1.5, August 2025
- Mediate UK and Direct Mediation Services, urgent and fast track MIAM pages, and the websites of the other eight providers, checked 11th September 2026
- Family Procedure Rules 2010, rule 3.8
- familymediation.wiki, articles on the Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting, MIAM exemptions and legal aid for family mediation, reviewed September 2026.
