Most people who have ever tried to maintain New Year’s resolutions to the end of January, let alone the end of the year, will admit that changing habits is not necessarily easy.

When it comes, therefore, to overturning received wisdom about how best to unpick a relationship which may have lasted decades, it is no surprise that even the most enthusiastic advocates realise it is not a task likely to be achieved overnight.

Even so, it is possible to see that progress is being made in encouraging greater use of mediation as a way to resolve family disagreements.

Regular readers of this ‘blog will know that mediation and the other forms of what is known as non-court dispute resolution (or NCDR, for short) are something of a common theme.

That is simply because practitioners like myself are seeing more cases with more married couples opting to divide their assets and determine parenting or living arrangements which are in the best interests of themselves and their children when they part via mediation than in court.

In each of the years since I qualified as a mediator and, more recently, as Chair of Family Law Mediation Week, I have seen clear signs of a growing appetite among families, family lawyers and the judiciary.

Last November, for example, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) reported that the number of family law mediations had increased by 30 per cent in the space of just 12 months (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2025/legal-aid-statistics-england-and-wales-bulletin-jan-to-mar-2025).

It is important to realise why or how that significant progress has come about – and, in addition, to identify the remaining obstacles to making mediation rather than the courtroom the default forum for settling family disputes.

In my opinion, the introduction of a voucher scheme in March 2021, granting eligible couples up to £500 towards the cost of mediation was an important first step (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/family-mediation-voucher-scheme).

As ministers described at the time, mediation is “an efficient way of resolving disagreements”, providing “a safe and supported structure to sort out the best arrangements”.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, uptake was not universal or instantaneous but is certainly growing, a fact which has persuaded successive governments to extend the scheme.

Along with the carrot, there has been something of the stick, in the form of a change to the Family Procedure Rules in April 2024 (https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/family#:~:text=The%20provisions%20in%20the%20Family,the%20remainder%20of%20the%20provisions).

It required those individuals wishing to bring cases to court to demonstrate that they have genuinely pursued NCDR in an effort to reach a solution.

Following the rule change, anyone failing to do so faced the potential of a costs order being made against them as well as having proceedings delayed while they were sent back to engage more earnesly in mediation.

The time consideration has, in my experience, not been lost on people who accept that their relationships are over and want to move on with the rest of their lives as swiftly and simply as possible.

Data published by the MoJ last month showed that divorces in England and Wales were taking 67 weeks on average to conclude (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-court-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2025/family-court-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2025).

Such factors have coincided with senior figures, including the country’s most senior family law judge, Sir Andrew McFarlane, repeatedly emphasising the merits of mediation.

Technology too has presented us with a wider variety of ways to satisfy the growing appetite for NCDR.

I find it astonishing to think of how much more flexible we were able to be because of the circumstances brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic six years ago.

In my view, online mediation has been one of the genuine benefits arising from that period. It has made the process safer and more accessible – especially for those experiencing domestic abuse, who can attend mediation from their own homes.

This year’s Family Law Mediation Week not only reflects that progress but aims to spur even greater uptake, with a broad selection of material deliverable in a range of ways (https://www.familymediationcouncil.org.uk/fmw/).

It is designed to illustrate to lawyers and the general public alike how mediation is a thoroughly worthwhile option, both for seemingly straightforward cases and matters involving more complex issues.

The number of professionals, both in and outside the law, wanting to attend and contribute to the Week’s activities has also consistently been on the rise in recent years – another welcome sign that the message about how mediation really can make a difference is getting through.

Our efforts have been so concerted that I don’t think that there is a family lawyer in England and Wales who doesn’t know what mediation is.

The purpose of our work is surely to ensure that the task of convincing others decreases over time as awareness of what mediation is increases.

By continuing our efforts for now, I am confident that by raising awareness we will see more mediations taking place and, as a result, the number of families who can negotiate the challenges posed by a break-up in a more timely manner, with less cost, less stress and less rancour.