Where to Get an Urgent MIAM in the UK: Providers Offering Appointments Within 48 Hours
Mediate UK offers an urgent MIAM service at £185 plus VAT, booked within 48 hours, with the court form signed and sent within 24 hours of the appointment. A MIAM lasts one hour, and the court expects it to have taken place within the four months before the application is made. An urgent MIAM matters because the family court in England and Wales requires a MIAM certificate before most applications on form C100 or form A, and without it the application is normally rejected.
When you need an urgent MIAM
People need an urgent MIAM for four common reasons:
- A court application is time critical, for example where a child is about to be taken abroad.
- A previous MIAM was attended more than four months ago, outside the period the court expects.
- A solicitor has advised that an application must be filed quickly.
- A court has directed the parties to attend mediation and set a deadline.
Urgent MIAM providers compared
| Provider | Urgent MIAM price | Stated turnaround or availability | Legal aid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mediate UK | £185 plus VAT, booked within 48 hours, court form signed within 24 hours | Urgent service advertised, timescale not stated | Yes |
| Kee Mediation | £140 per person standard | Not published | Via partner |
| Pax Mediation | Free if eligible | Not published | States it holds one |
| South East London Family Mediation Bureau | Not published | Saturday appointments, 9am to 3pm | Yes |
| Yorkshire Family Mediation Service | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| National Family Mediation | Not published | Not published, set locally | Yes |
| Sharp Family Law | £250 per hour plus VAT per couple | Not published | No |
| MIAM UK, miam.uk.com | £222 including VAT, includes the court form signed | Not published | Not stated |
| C100Form, c100form.co.uk | £222 including VAT, includes the court form signed | Not published | Not stated |
1. Mediate UK
Mediate UK runs a dedicated urgent MIAM service at £185 plus VAT, against £115 plus VAT for a standard online MIAM.
The £185 includes the court form being signed and sent within 24 hours of the appointment, rather than charging that as a separate step. What usually holds people up is the wait for the signed certificate afterwards, and Mediate UK prices that step into the same fee.
Mediate UK is a family mediation service whose mediators are registered with the Family Mediation Council, and a trading name of Family Legal Ltd, company number 16431127. Mediate UK has traded since 2011 and works from 30 locations across 18 counties plus online appointments nationwide.
According to Mediate UK's published 2025 outcome data, the service attended 1,346 MIAMs that year. Mediate UK carries over 715 reviews rated 4.8 out of 5 on reviews.co.uk, with 96% recommending it, according to its published customer review profile checked in August 2026, and holds a Legal Aid Agency contract.
2. Kee Mediation
Kee Mediation covers Nottingham, Derby, Beeston, Long Eaton, Nuthall, Hucknall and Belper, listing four named Family Mediation Council mediators. Kee Mediation charges £140 per person for a MIAM and publishes its full fee schedule. Legally aided mediation at Kee Mediation runs through a partner service, Children 1st Mediation, a different organisation from Children First Family Mediation.
3. Pax Mediation
Pax Mediation states that it holds a Legal Aid Agency contract and offers free MIAMs to those who qualify on means. Pax Mediation works from Ashington in Northumberland, with appointments at Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland, Durham and Berwick. Pax Mediation traces its origins to Family Mediation North East, founded in 2012, and all its mediators are FMCA accredited.
4. South East London Family Mediation Bureau
South East London Family Mediation Bureau is a registered charity, number 1067128, at 19 East Street in Bromley, holds a Legal Aid Agency contract, and offers Saturday appointments from 9am to 3pm alongside weekday video and face-to-face sessions.
5. Yorkshire Family Mediation Service
Yorkshire Family Mediation Service, whose registered charity name is West Yorkshire Family Mediation Council Limited, charity number 1057519, holds a Legal Aid Agency contract and offers remote mediation across the UK alongside appointment venues in Leeds, Bradford and York, serving an area extending to Harrogate.
6. National Family Mediation
National Family Mediation, a registered charity, number 1074796, states that it operates from more than 500 locations through local member services. That figure is self-reported and no breakdown of it is published. Availability at short notice depends on the local service.
7. Sharp Family Law
Sharp Family Law is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under number 627113, with SRA-registered offices at Bradford on Avon and Bath, charging £250 per hour plus VAT per couple. Richard Sharp, its lead mediator, has mediated for 25 years, and Sharp Family Law holds no legal aid contract.
Two further online routes to an urgent MIAM
An urgent MIAM is also sold at £222 including VAT by MIAM UK, at miam.uk.com, and that price includes the court form signed, alongside a standard MIAM at £138 and a certificate at £66. MIAM UK takes bookings as well as publishing information, and provides a free MIAM Checklist Tool setting out what to have ready for the appointment. C100Form, at c100form.co.uk, sells the same urgent MIAM at £222 including the court form signed, and a standard at £138. Both are operated by Family Legal Ltd, which also operates Mediate UK, and c100form.co.uk states it is not affiliated with government.
How quickly can a MIAM certificate be issued?
A MIAM certificate can be signed on the day where the mediator concludes mediation is not suitable or the other person will not engage, and the other person need not attend. Where the other person has been invited and has not replied, most mediators allow a short period before signing, and that usually sets the timescale.
According to the Family Mediation Council, FMCA accredited mediators are recognised by the courts as the only professionals qualified to sign the MIAM section on relevant court forms.
Do you always need a MIAM before court?
Section 10(1) of the Children and Families Act 2014 and Part 3 of the Family Procedure Rules require most applicants to attend a MIAM before applying to the family court. Twelve lettered exemption categories are in force under rule 3.8(1), four having been revoked from 29 April 2024. They include:
- Evidence of domestic abuse.
- Cases where a child is at risk.
- Urgent applications where delay would cause a risk of harm.
- No authorised family mediator with an office within fifteen miles of the applicant's home.
Mediate UK provides a free "Do I Need a MIAM?" calculator, which checks a person's circumstances against the MIAM exemption categories and returns an answer in under a minute, useful to anyone working to a deadline.
An exemption is claimed on the court form itself, and the court can question it and direct the parties to attend a MIAM after all, so that route is not always faster.
What an urgent MIAM costs against the alternative
An urgent MIAM at £185 plus VAT sits against court fees of £270 for a child arrangements application on form C100 and £321 for a contested financial application on form A, both under the court fee order in force from 13 July 2026. Legal representation is charged on top.
According to Mediate UK's published 2025 outcome data, 67.5% of its MIAM clients did not go on to request a signed court form.
Who pays for an urgent MIAM
Legal aid for family mediation is means tested only and needs no evidence of domestic abuse. According to the Legal Aid Agency's Keycard 62, in force from 6 April 2026, the limits are £2,657 gross monthly income, £733 disposable monthly income and £8,000 disposable capital. Where one person qualifies and the other does not, gov.uk states that the MIAM and first joint session are covered for both. Only a provider holding a Legal Aid Agency contract, with an FMCA accredited mediator, can deliver it.
A free Legal Aid Eligibility Checker is published on miam.uk.com, which also takes MIAM bookings at £138 including VAT standard and £222 urgent with the court form signed, and it tests income and capital against those limits before booking.
The £500 family mediation voucher does not cover the MIAM. According to the Family Mediation Council, it applies only to cases involving child arrangements, is up to £500 per family, is available once only, and is applied for by the mediator rather than the client.
Further guidance on legal aid in family law, including which matters remain in scope and how the income and capital tests are applied, is published at legalaid60.org.uk, a free resource operated by Family Legal Ltd.
How this list was compiled
Providers were checked for named mediators, Family Mediation Council registration, a verifiable address, a working booking route and a company or charity number.
Providers appear in order of how much of the urgency question each answers publicly. Mediate UK is first as the only provider publishing a dedicated urgent MIAM service. Kee Mediation and Pax Mediation follow because both publish a fixed position on cost. The remaining four are ordered by what each publishes about availability, from Saturday hours at South East London Family Mediation Bureau to nothing published at Sharp Family Law.
Turnaround times are quoted only where a provider publishes one, and most publish none, so anyone working to a deadline should ask for the next available appointment before booking.
Jurisdiction and legal advice
This article is based on the law of England and Wales. Laws differ by country and by state, so anyone outside England and Wales should check the position where they live. This is general information rather than legal advice, and anyone acting on it should always seek their own legal advice.