Privacy Policy
1. What information I collect:
​I collect personal information as volunteered by you through telephone calls, emails, referral forms and meetings. The information I collect will vary depending on the service you request but could include your name, address, phone number, email address, gender, date of birth, reasons for coming to mediation, financial history, relationship and marriage background, names and ages of children. I will not collect personal information about you without your knowledge or permission unless provided to me by your former partner as part of the mediation process.​
2. Use of information:
I will use your information to provide mediation services and produce your summary documentation.
3. Sharing information:
Unless required to do so by law, I will not pass your information to any third party. ​
I will not share personal data with third parties for marketing purposes. Where specifically you request me to send your information to solicitors, a legal draftsperson, a financial advisor or other professional I will do so.
4. Accessing and correcting your information:
You can make a written request for a copy of certain personal records I hold about you. Proof of identification will be required in order to protect your information. In most cases I will not charge a fee for this; where I do charge a fee, this will be in line with the guidance set out by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and based on the administrative costs incurred in dealing with the request. I will comply with such a request within one calendar month (with limited exceptions as per the ICO’s guidance), and when provided, the data will be in an open, common format. If the data I hold is incorrect or incomplete, you can ask for this to be rectified at any time.
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5. How long I keep information for:
I keep all information for 2 years after the relationship with the person who is the subject of the data has ceased and I keep the Memorandum of Understanding and Open Financial Statement for 6 years.
6. Changes to this privacy policy:
I reserve the right to change this privacy policy and all change will be posted on this website and they will take immediate effect. Where the changes are significant I may also choose to email all my current clients with the new Privacy Policy.
Complaints Procedure
If you have any concerns about my practice or the service you have received from me as your mediator, I hope that you will talk to me in the first instance about your concern or complaint so that I can deal with it immediately if I can. If this is not possible or you feel unable to call then please put this in writing.
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Complaints about a matter occurring within the last three months may be made by prospective, current or former mediation clients or by others who have been invited to participate in a mediation process, for example another professional, or by other Family Mediation Council Registered Mediators.
For the avoidance of doubt, it is common for a mediator to contact a potential mediation participant after seeing the other potential mediation participant. Complaints about a mediator making contact with a potential participant do not therefore need to be investigated by mediators and will not be accepted by the FMC complaints process (see below).
Complaints that appear to be vexatious or of a purely personal nature do not have to be investigated by mediators.
All complaints that are within the scope of this policy will be acknowledged within 10 working days and will be investigated and responded to normally within 30 days of receipt. If further time is required before a response can be provided you will be informed of this.
Where appropriate, the mediator will offer a further mediation meeting to resolve outstanding issues.
If you are dissatisfied with the mediator’s response you should explain in writing why your complaint has not been addressed. A response to this will be provided within 14 days unless more time is needed, in which case you will be informed when the response will be ready.
If we have not resolved a complaint within the above timescales you may make a formal complaint to the FMC’s Family Mediation Standards Board (FMSB).
Details of how to make a complaint to the FMSB can be found at https://www.familymediationcouncil.org.uk/complaints-about-mediators
The FMSB will normally only investigate a complaint if (a) it relates to its Codes of Practice or Standards Framework and (b) you have already exhausted Nicola Wager Mediation's own complaints procedures in the last 3 months.
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If your complaint is about poor service, it may also be possible for you to make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman and/or to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) if you believe I have breached the SRA principles and/or Code of Conduct.
The time limit for complaints to Nicola Wager Mediation is not later than 3 months after the grounds to make the complaint first arose. For complaints about the way a mediation was conducted as a whole, the date the three months runs from is the last mediation session.
If a complaint is made after this time an explanation for the delay must be given, along with evidence of exceptional circumstances preventing its submission sooner, and we will have a discretion whether or not to take those circumstances into account.