FDR is partially funded by the Ministry up to a fixed cap. How much parties need to pay depends on their funding eligibility. For this reason, FDR suppliers should always check whether an FDR party has been assessed for funding eligibility in the past 12 months, and if not, must undertake the test to assess the party's funding eligibility. You can find the income thresholds on the Family Justice website.
All parties can access the following within a 12-month period per dispute:
The 12 hours can be any combination of PFM and mediation agreed by the supplier, provider and all parties. PFM and mediation is free for parties who meet the funding eligibility criteria. Parties who do not meet the eligibility criteria pay a fixed fee.
The 12-month period is calculated from the date when the FDR assessment was completed and the decision was made whether to proceed with FDR or not, i.e. the decision date of the assessment event.
Example:
Assessment for a dispute is completed with an outcome decision made on 5 September 2018. From that point, parties are eligible for 12 hours of PFM and mediation by 4 September 2019. After the 12-month period is up, the dispute is again eligible for one FDR assessment and up to 12 hours of PFM and mediation. The parties' funding eligibility may also need to be reassessed at this stage.
Court-directed FDR is excluded from the 12-month rule described above. If a dispute is referred back to FDR by the court, it will be eligible for an assessment and 12 hours of PFM and mediation, even if it is less than 12 months since FDR was initiated previously. Parties who do not meet the funding eligibility criteria will still have to pay.
It is important to keep RMS up to date. Ensure you record any activities and outcomes within 48 hours of them taking place.
For each 12-month period, only record one assessment event in RMS, rather than recording a separate event for each party.
Record each session of PFM and mediation as a separate event in RMS. Make sure you record how many hours the session took, and specify the parties involved in each event.
RMS automatically calculates the number of Ministry-funded hours for different disputes depending on the parties' funding eligibility, so don't tick 'Not covered by 12-hour funding model' unless it's:
In these cases the system will prompt you to tick the box.
In mixed and partially funded disputes, you should not tick the checkbox when recording the hours paid for by the parties, since this would interfere with the system's automatic calculations.
The table below describes the different outcomes at each stage of the FDR process and which decision to use in RMS.
| Decision type | When to use |
|---|---|
| ASSESSMENT STAGE | |
| Suitable for FDR | The dispute is suitable to go to mediation. |
| Refer to Preparation for Mediation | The dispute is suitable for mediation, but the parties would benefit from some preparation first. |
| FDR exempt | The dispute is not suitable for mediation, e.g. due to domestic violence, a power imbalance, or a party refusing to participate. |
| Administration withdrawal | You have taken all reasonable efforts to engage the parties but have been unsuccessful. |
| Joint withdrawal by all parties | All parties have agreed to withdraw from FDR. |
| Agreement to mediate not signed | The parties have not signed the agreement to mediate, which means that the dispute cannot progress through FDR. |
| PREPARATION FOR MEDIATION STAGE | |
| Preparation for mediation in progress | Some PFM has taken place but more PFM is planned. |
| Suitable for FDR | The dispute is suitable to go to mediation. |
| FDR exempt | The dispute is not suitable for mediation, e.g. due to domestic violence, a power imbalance, or a party refusing to participate. Note that only the mediator can exempt disputes from FDR. |
| MEDIATION STAGE | |
| Mediation in progress | Some mediation has been held but no final decision has been made yet and more mediation is planned. Note: If more mediation is planned but the provider thinks it prudent to issue an outcome form, e.g. if there might be issues getting the parties to return to mediation, they can use the decision types 'FDR completed — No/some matters resolved'. |
| Refer to Preparation for Mediation | Some mediation has been held but the provider thinks the party/parties would benefit from more preparation. |
| FDR completed — No matters resolved | The parties have attended mediation but no matters have been resolved and the provider does not believe that they can be resolved within a reasonable time. |
| FDR completed — Some matters resolved | The parties have attended mediation and some matters have been resolved, but the provider does not believe that the remaining matters can be resolved within a reasonable time. |
| FDR completed — All matters resolved | The parties have attended mediation and all matters in dispute have been resolved. |
| FDR exempt | The dispute is not suitable for mediation, e.g. due to domestic violence, a power imbalance, or a party refusing to participate. |
| Administration withdrawal | You have taken all reasonable efforts to engage the parties but have been unsuccessful. | Joint withdrawal by all parties | All parties have agreed to withdraw from FDR. |
| Agreement to mediate not signed | The parties have not signed the agreement to mediate, which means that the dispute cannot progress through FDR. |