Equalities Mediation Service
This page contains information about the Equalities Mediation Service, including:
What it does
Advantages and disadvantages
READ THIS! An important note on advantages and disadvantages
Which complaints are eligible and which are not?
Cost
Timescale
Procedure
Outcomes
What it does
The Equalities Mediation Service (EMS) (formerly the Disability Conciliation Service, or DCS) is an independent scheme for resolving disputes about discrimination in the provision of goods and services and in education and employment. This means, for example, that if you think it is difficult or impossible for you to use a shop, a bank, a pub, an airport, a school or a university course because of your disability, or if you feel you have been discriminated against by a service provider, school or univerity, or employer, you can try to resolve this through a mediation meeting with the organisation.
Originally the service was set up to cover disability discrimination, but it also now covers discrimination on the grounds of:
- Race
- Gender
- Age
- Religion and belief
- Sexual orientation
You can use the service if you are an adult, or the parent of a child under eighteen.
The service is funded by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), and run by Mediation Works.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission provides a specialised advisory service on discrimination claims to representatives and advisers working in the not-for-profit sector only. They can advise on the suitability of referring a case to the EMS. The Advice Line is available 9.30am-12.30pm Tuesday to Thursday. The numbers are:
Sex discrimination or sexual orientation: 0161 829 8403
Disability discrimination or age discrimination: 0161 829 8303
Race discrimination or religion and belief: 0203 117 0302
This information applies in England, Wales and Scotland. A similar service is provided in Northern Ireland by Mediation Works, and funded by the Equalities Commission for Northern Ireland. Please note that at present DCS NI can only deal with disability discrimination.
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Advantages
- It is free
- It is independent
- It is relatively quick
- The meeting will be arranged at a neutral venue close to where you live
- Any reasonable adjustments that help you attend the meeting will be made
- You can take a supporter with you
- It gives you an opportunity to tell your story, and talk face to face with people from the organisation involved
- You can agree on a wide and flexible range of remedies
- You can still take your case to court if there is no agreement
Disadvantages
- It does not always end in a resolution
- You might not be able to have your solicitor or legal adviser with you at the mediation meeting
- There is normally just one mediation meeting, so you need to decide on the day whether or not you will agree to the proposed settlement
- Agreements usually remain private, so there will be no public naming and shaming of bad practice
- There is no legal precedent created which others could rely on in the future
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READ THIS! An important note on advantages and disadvantages
When you are thinking about whether or not to use the EMS, you need to consider what your other options are. If you have a legal case against an organisation, you really need to get some independent advice about whether to use the EMS rather than go to court or to a tribunal. There are two reasons for this:
- There are time limits for making a claim, especially in an employment tribunal. Although you can usually get a three-month extension for using the EMS, you don't want to make a mistake about this. If you miss the deadline, you may miss your chance to get a legal remedy.
- If you go to the EMS, you can still take your claim to court or tribunal if you cannot reach an agreement at the mediation meeting. However, on the day of the mediation you will be asked to decide whether or not the proposed agreements negotiated between you and the other party are acceptable as a 'Full and Final' settlement of your claim. You cannot go away and think about it. If you decide that you will accept the agreement, you cannot take the same claim to a court or tribunal later. So it is important to get some independent advice before the mediation takes place, and ideally have access to your legal adviser on the day of the mediation as well.
It is worth noting that while there are a lot of day-to-day access problems for people with disabilities, it is not necessarily easy to enforce your legal rights. In its last year before becoming part of the EHRC, the Disability Rights Commission took around 120,000 calls to its disability helpline; 250 of those went to conciliation, and only a handful of cases got as far as a court hearing.
To read an email exchange on rights-based mediation, which looks at the pros and cons of using the service, go to Doing the rights thing on the ASA main website. This article was written by Val Reid and Margaret Doyle for the May 2006 edition of Mediation in Practice.
If you are not sure whether you have a valid case, and would like to talk about your options, you can call the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) Helpline. When you call, ask about mediation, and whether it might be a good choice for you.
The EHRC helpline numbers are :
England: 0845 604 6610
Wales: 0845 604 8810
Scotland: 0845 604 5510
The Equalities Commission Northern Ireland: 028 90 890 890
If your discrimination problem is to do with your employment, you could also contact the Acas helpline on 08457 47 47 47 for information, advice and conciliation.
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Which complaints are eligible and which are not?
This service was established in 2001 to deal with claims under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. This involved disputes with providers of goods and services such as:
- restaurants or bars
- health clubs or leisure centres
- supermarkets
- banks
- landlords
- government departments
It also included disputes with education providers including:
- schools and nurseries in Scotland and Northern Ireland (but not in England and Wales)
- colleges
- universities
- further education institutions
Claims of disability discrimination in schools in England and Wales are currently dealt with through a special tribunal - see First Tier Tribunal (SEND) for more details.
In April 2009 the service expanded to cover:
- Provision of Goods, Services and Facilities
- Post 16 Education
- Employment
- Training
- Airports, airlines and air travel agents (ATA - Air Travel Accessibility under EC Regulation 1107/2006)
- Pre 16 Schools cases
Also in April 2009 the service expanded to offer mediation in disputes about other types of discrimination, including:
- Race
- Gender
- Religion and belief
- Age
- Sexual orientation
For more information on how to choose the most appropriate way to resolve a discrimination case, see READ THIS! An important note on advantages and disadvantages.
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Cost
The scheme is free to both parties, as it is fully funded by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
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Timescale
From the time the EHRC refers the case to the mediation service, the mediation meeting will usually take place within eight weeks.
NB. If your case is about employment discrimination, you have a three-month time limit to make an application to an employment tribunal. If your case is about discrimination in goods and services or post-16 education you have a six-month time limit to issue court proceedings, but this is extended to eight months if both parties use the EMS. You should get some legal advice straight away, as it may be best to make a tribunal application or issue court proceedings before trying the mediation service.
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Procedure
Anyone wishing to use the EMS must be referred either by the Equality and Human Rights Commission in England, Wales and Scotland; by the Equalities Commission for Northern Ireland; or by an advice agency or law centre that is recognised by the Commission as a third-party referrer.
The Commission's legal team will consider whether it would be better to take the case to court, or to refer it to mediation. Unless the Commission decides that your case covers a new point of law, and therefore that a legal precedent could be established, it is unlikely that they will represent you in court. If the Commission thinks your case is suitable, and if both parties agree to try mediation, they will refer the case to the EMS. If you agree, they will contact the other party on your behalf. You may choose to take the case to court instead.
If you are interested in the possibility of mediation, and the helpline adviser does not suggest it, don't be afraid to ask about whether your case might be suitable. The Equality and Human Rights Commission was created in October 2007; before that date referrals went through the Disability Rights Commission helpline, where there was a greater awareness of this service.
If the Commission refers the case to mediation, the EMS will contact both parties and confirm agreement from both that they are willing to proceed. The EMS will work with both parties by phone to prepare them for mediation.
The EMS can't give you legal advice, but they will tell you where you can get legal advice and information before your mediation meeting.
A mediator will be appointed from the EMS panel of independent mediators, and a meeting will be arranged. This is usually a face-to-face meeting held at a venue that is convenient, accessible and acceptable to both parties. The meeting usually lasts between two and four hours. If you would find it difficult to travel, or to manage a long meeting, then the EMS can arrange telephone or email mediation.
Supporters are welcome at the meeting, but legal representation is not encouraged. However, if you think it is important to have your solicitor or legal adviser present, and if EMS as well as the other party agree, exceptions can be made. Another option is to arrange for your legal adviser to be available for contact by telephone during the meeting.
The mediator helps the parties to discuss the issues in dispute and, if possible, to reach an agreement that might resolve the problem. Although the process used is often referred to as Conciliation, it is in fact a very similar process to Mediation.
Settelements rely on both parties agreeing on any solution. If both sides agree on the day that it represents a 'full and final settlement' of the legal claim, this means that neither party will be able to take the claim to court or tribunal later. This is why it is important to get some legal advice before you meet, and where necessary, to be able to talk to your legal adviser in person or by phone during the mediation.
To see how a typical case might work, have a look at Jean's story.
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Outcomes
If you manage to reach an agreement at the mediation meeting, the mediator will write this up there and then, and both parties will sign it. A typed copy will be sent to you later. So far, around 84% of goods and services cases, and around 65% of education cases have reached a full and final settlement at the mediation meeting.
One of the good things about mediation is that you can agree to just about anything - you are not confined to the remedies a court can impose. For example, agreements can include:
- apologies
- explanations
- compensation
- changes in policy or procedures
- arrangements for return to work or resume a course
- references
- staff training in disability awareness or equalities and diversity
- information being made available in accessible formats
- improvements and arrangements for future communication
The mediator must ensure that any agreement is in line with rights and responsibilities set out in the Disability Discrimination Act, or in other relevant discrimination legislation.
It is worth noting that the service asks all users, both complainants and respondents, about their experience of using the service. To date, a combined total of 87% of complainants and respondents (both complainers and those complained about) said that the service met or exceeded their needs, and 93% would recommend using the service to others.
Cases and agreements remain private, unless both parties agree to publish information about the case. However, the EMS publishes anonymised case digests on their website, so you can see examples of the outcomes achieved.
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April 2010
