For many individuals involved in lengthy divorce proceedings, agreeing on who owns specific assets or how the house will be split is expensive and time consuming. The natural reaction in these situations is to speak with a solicitor, but many are now taking up the option of training as mediators, offering this as an alternative service.

When the word ‘training’ arises within an organisation, there is often an element of fear, wondering whether it will be dull, boring or both. But this course certainly does not warrant that reaction.

In order to compensate individuals affected by the oil spillage in the Gulf of Mexico, BP has decided to appoint an independent mediator. This role is likely to act as a self sufficient entity, and will be the key to ensuring that those affected are rightfully compensated. As the mediator is ‘free to disagree with BP's position’ it should allow for reasonable and realistic agreements to be forged, as well as instilling impartiality.

As most of you are aware, the World Cup in South Africa is now underway, with a nations hopes pinned on England. With the World Cup comes an increase in sick days, as people are eager to see the crucial matches.

As June rolls around, it seems like only last month that we were welcoming in the New Year. Having said this, it is only a month until we run our first ever course in Southampton. Our Free Introduction to Mediation programme will be running on the 2nd July, so if you were looking at dipping your toe in the water of mediation, then this is the perfect opportunity. To book your place, visit the training section of our website and complete the booking form.

Conflict between neighbours can arise due to over hanging trees, building work or access disputes, which can damage longstanding friendships. We can resolve your conflict for just £25 per party, if you are able to travel to our head office. Find out more information about our Neighbourhood Mediation initiative.

Due to overwhelming demand for places, we had to add an extra course date to our London calendar for 2010. Places on this course are now filling fast and we are beginning to finalise numbers for the Interpersonal Mediation Practitioner’s Certificate from the 26th-29th April. As an avid reader of our news pages, we can offer you a £95 discount on the course, which could be spent on theatre tickets or a couple of meals during the course.

There are numerous reasons why commercial mediation is slowly becoming extremely popular. The first of which is that ongoing relationships can avoid being tarnish or ruined, because mediation is effectively employed to reach agreements, rather than dwell upon who was in the wrong. When compared to typical judicial terms, where everything needs to be proven, mediation simply relies on the willingness of participants and creates an ideal environment for both parties to muster a mutual agreement.

According to an NHS survey “Stress, depression and mental health problems in the workplace are costing employers billions of pounds in lost productivity.” This can range from having inadequate equipment, to being set tight and unrealistic deadlines.

 Due to incredibly high demand, we have scheduled an additional Mediation Practitioner's Certificate programme in London. The dates of the course will be 26th - 29th April 2010 and the venue will be the very popular Fleet Street Meeting Rooms.

 If one of your New Years resolutions was to undertake some exciting training or embark on a whole new career, then 2010 could be the year you qualify as a mediator!

 Nearly four in 10 (39%) HR professionals blamed the downfall in relationships between managers and workers as being the main reason grievances were lodged last year, a survey by law firm Speechly Bircham and King’s College London found. This compares to just 1% in 2008.

Due to overwhelming demand for mediation training throughout the UK, we recently expanded our courses over the border into Scotland. The first Interpersonal Mediation Practitioner’s Certificate we plan to run is taking place at the Teacher Building, which is an historic former whiskey house located in the heart of Glasgow, and is running from the 19th-22nd April 2010.

As a qualified solicitor, mediation may be beneficial to your continuing personal development, and provide you with an alternative framework for resolving a whole host of disputes. With particular reference to family disputes and divorces, mediation can be employed between couples to result in an amicable settlement. The effects on children during a separation can be difficult, but a mutual and respectful split will minimise the impact.

Due to extremely high demand for our Mediation Practitioner's Certificate course in London (8th - 11th March 2010) we have now added additional dates to accommodate those of you wishing to undertake this qualification within the near future.

Hedge disputes costing £160,000 and toxic workplace disputes -  read about  the real cost to the arguing parties and the courts system.

Family breakdown can be costly in many ways. It can cause financial hardship, lead to acrimonious court battles, and have a lasting effect on the emotional wellbeing of any children involved. But a good family mediator could make all the difference and can often help warring couples sort out their problems without ending up in court.

From time to time neighbours can become locked into conflict for a whole host of reasons. These can range from hedge boundary disputes, to disagreements over noise and can seriously diminish long standing relationships that have taken years to establish. This type of mediation would also be beneficial for divorcing couples, as it will encourage an amicable separation.

First of all, we would like to say a massive thank you if you visited our stand at the 2009 CIPD Conference in Manchester. It was a pleasure to talk with a plethora of old faces as well as chatting to a whole host of new ones about all things mediation. For the people that we spoke to and scanned, we hope that you have received the information requested, and are looking for ways to introduce mediation into your existing practises, as a means of workplace dispute resolution.

A new survey by the CIM (Chartered Institute of Management) has highlighted the effect that a "bad boss" can have on your working life by reporting on the numbers of people who have, or would consider, quitting because of this.

A new survey conducted by CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development) has found that productivity in the UK is being seriously affected due to employees suffering from stress caused in and outside work.

We have undergone a period of extensive change and updates to our existing courses and introduced many new ones. To support these changes, UK Mediation are now pleased to introduce a brand new full prospectus which can guide you through your training from start to finish. A new website will be live from the beginning of December and we aim to help you navigate your way through all our services easily and quickly.

We understand that our customers like a well planned course and we strive to organise things well in advance. With some of our more popular courses, this can mean planning the finer details many months before it takes place. To say thank you for helping us by booking your place early, we are offering a 5% early-booking discount for the Mediation Practitioner's Certificate and Commercial Mediation Training programmes. If you book your place at least two calendar months before the course start-date, then the 5% discount will apply.

Due to huge demand for places on our OCN Accredited Mediation Practitioner's Certificate course in November ( 9th - 12th), we are pleased to confirm that an additional programme has been arranged.

"More than ever before, employers need to ensure that the culture of their organisations is inclusive and that any incidents of discrimination are promptly dealt with". This was the comment made by Rachel Dineley, partner in the employment and pensions group at law firm Beachcroft.

On GMTV this week, Nigel Gray (of Roguecustomer.com) and Tommy Walsh (known from BBC's Ground Force) discussed the disputes raised by both traders and customers in the building trade and associated industries.

Today's free lunchtime seminar at Belper was well received - both by delegates and UK Mediation representatives. The seminar is a way of finding out more about mediation within an informal but informative environment. A presentation delivered by a practising mediator and mediation trainer introduces the session, which concludes with a bite to eat and opportunity for delegates to chat amongst themselves or ask questions and seek advice from our team.

We are pleased to announce that UK Mediation has now been fully approved for the NEESPR (North East England Service Provider Register).

Times Online has recently reported on the challenges that leaseholders and property management companies have when finding common ground with regards to service charges.

For those of you visiting the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development) annual conference and exhibition this year, we would be pleased for you to visit us at Stand 406.

Do you have at least two years' experience as a mediator?

It is hard to believe that 370 million working days were lost last year - not through holidays or sickness, but through dealing with workplace disputes.

In April, the UK saw the implementation of the new ACAS Codes of Practice for disciplinary and grievance. This new code, however, did not affect the current legislation in Ireland.

We are now pleased to inform you that a One-Day Introduction to Mediation programme has now been scheduled for Tuesday 15th September 2009. Find out more about the programme, or contact us for more details, and we will be pleased to advise you.

Further to a recent article in Guardian Weekend magazine (23rd May 2009), we are pleased to see the use of mediation being promoted as a fast, efficient and viable method of resolving neighbour disputes.

UK Mediation are celebrating 10 years of success and during our anniversary drive for continuous improvement, we have worked hard to ensure that we offer something for everyone.

... that 83% of organisations believe that mediation improves employee relationships?

22nd September 2009 - UK Mediation, Belper

Owing to an increase in our mediation cases, we are looking to increase the number of mediators listed on our Panel.

Within a few days of offering the lunchtime seminar on 18th December, places were fully booked. We have now added a years worth of dates for you to choose from so please contact us if you would like to reserve your place on any of these dates. Lunchtime seminars commence at 11.30am with welcome drinks, followed by a presentation, Q & A session, and free advice to follow with a buffet lunch. Each of the seminars will take place at UK Mediation, Belper, Derbyshire.

For some, decorating one's home with a huge quantity of lights and animated seasonal animals is fun and festive. For the neighbours, it can be a nightmare! The Independant looks at some past cases of seasonal neighbour disputes, and how they can be reolved. Read the full article.

The mention of redundancy is becoming more frequent due to the current economic climate and organisations needing to cut costs. But whilst laying-off staff is often the quickest and most obvious method of belt-tightening, there are other options to consider.

In 2009, UK Mediation will be celebrating its 10th Anniversary, and we have many plans to mark this occassion.

Congratulations to Bradford Council who have won an award for a ground-breaking scheme to tackle noisy neighbours. 

This morning on GMTV, the Apprentice runner-up, Claire Young, talks to Ben Shephard about the causes of workplace stress and how the average employee wastes two hours per week dealing with it.. See the video.

Michael Gibbons, author of the Report which led to the Employment Act 2008, will be attending a number of venues this autumn as a guest speaker.

John Gunner, previous chairman of Mediation Hertfordshire has been fundraising to help keep this valuable resource afloat, the local press reported this week.

Happy talk

A new report on workplace mediation is being delivered today by CIPD at the Annual Employment Law Conference 2008.

We are all familiar with the term "anti-social behaviour", and it certainly isn't just the younger generation who are guilty of it or that feel the outcomes of it

Research conducted by Law Firm Dundas & Wilson shows that two-thirds of employers are still shying away from mediation in the workplace. It is shocking to discover that only 36% had used mediation as a tool to resolve workplace disputes...

In December 2006, the Secretary of State for Trade & Industry invited Michael Gibbons to carry out an independent review of the 2004 statutory dispute procedures, with a view to simplifying and improving dispute resolution in the workplace.

Starting on the 19th July at Millennium Square in Leeds, and finishing in London a month later, Walk Talk is a new intiative aimed at encouraging people - from all backgrounds - to engage in conversation.

If you are a cousellor or psychotherapist, and interested in accredited mediation training, then this course is for you!

We have now scheduled a summer date for the mediation refresher one-day programme. Places will remain strictly limited, so please contact us if you would like to know more, or if you would like to book a place.

Our main accredited training programme, the Mediation Practitioner's Certificate, is usually delivered over four consecutive days.  Some individuals, due to work or family commitments, for example, find it difficult to schedule in four day's training in the same week.

Is HR ready for mediation in the workplace, and what are the problems and concerns HR professionals may have?

Whether it is the aftermath of the Gibbons Review, or the increasing mention and popularity of mediation within the workplace, commercially or within relationships, UK Mediation has noticed a record number of places being booked on their training courses during the last few months.

Companies confused and concerned over disciplinary procedures are becoming frightened of taking action against employees for fear of reprisals.

This Easter, 100,000 British holiday makers face travel disruption if BA's pilots choose strike action.

"Opportunities", the public sector publication, has today published an article by Mike Talbot, Director of UK Mediation, regarding the cost of conflict to organisations UK wide.

Eversheds, the employment specialists, have identified the eight most significant law issues for HR professionals in 2008.

Failing to follow an appropriate code of practice for workplace disputes and grievances could land employers a "big tribunal fine", according to the pending Employment Bill.

Mike Parr of Radio Newcastle has today conducted an interview with Mike Talbot, Director of UK Mediation.

Up-to-date research from Nabarro states that £33 billion per year is the cost of workplace disputes to the UK economy, and yet two-thirds of employers are failing to educate staff in early dispute resolution methods.

The pending Employment Bill is treating early dispute resolutions procedures as a priority in order to reduce the financial and administrative burden caused by the current unsatisfactory and confusing recommendations.

A survey conducted by Eurpoean law firm, Field Fisher Waterhouse, shows that dispute resolution is an "ongoing problem" with 79% of respondents claiming that disputes within their organisation "are not handled well".

A number of employment tribunals have have recently been conducting trials into mediation as a cost-cutting option for dispute resolution.

UK Mediation regularly works with housing associations across the UK, and resolving disputes between tentants and landlords, as well as neighbours, continues to be the perfect example of where mediation can really work.

Do you want to see what a typical workplace mediation looks like?