Kids SEND Mediation

Information for commissioners

96% of our service users report that they are satisfied/highly satisfied with KIDS’ award winning SEND Mediation and Disagreement Resolution Service.

Find out more about our service.

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About us

Kids is a national charity founded over 50 years ago. We provide a wide range of support services to children and young people age 0 to 25 with SEND and their families. Kids have been a leading provider of SEND Disagreement Resolution (DR) and Mediation since 2001, working with around 50 local authorities, including large and small metropolitan boroughs.

Kids is the winner of the SEND Mediation Award at National Mediation Awards 2020 in recognition of mediation excellence. Our strategic work with the DfE has led to the publishing of Mediation factsheets for families, local authorities, CCGs and Education Providers.

Kids and our mediators are accredited by the Civil Mediation Council (CMC) under the DfE supported SEND Mediator Quality Standards.  Our diverse panel of 25 fully accredited SEND Mediators ensures reliable, consistent and knowledgeable service delivery within statutory deadlines.

Kids successfully delivered over 700 virtual mediation sessions after Covid-19 restrictions were imposed in 2020.

Equal Opportunities

Kids has a Diversity, Equal Opportunities and Human Rights Policy & Procedures. The aim of the policy is to ensure that no job applicant, employee or worker is discriminated against either directly or indirectly on the grounds of race, colour, ethnic or national origin, religious belief, political opinion or affiliation, gender, pregnancy or maternity, marital status, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, age or disability.

Contracts compliance

Kids exceeds the standards, outputs, targets and outcomes set by the organisations funding activities e.g. local authorities, government departments, grant funds.

Quality marks and accreditations

Kids has pledged its commitment to a number of quality marks and schemes, including:

Civil Mediation Council, which promotes the highest standards of skill, conduct and integrity in mediation.

Disability Confidence Scheme which is awarded by the Department for Work and Pensions and supports employers to make the most of the talents disabled people can bring to their workplace.

“The preparation work that Kids carries out with parties prior to the mediation sets Kids apart from other providers.

Participants are assigned a mediator or caseworker who, through the Kids model, gains a detailed familiarity with the issues well in advance of the meeting. This assists everyone to prepare fully, agree the right contributors and ensure the meeting is as productive and worry-free as possible.

Both parents and local authority representatives often comment on how useful and reassuring these early pre-mediation conversations are. The casework team are very experienced and highly efficient.”

Local authority commissioner

Meet insurance requirements

  • Public Liability: £10,000,000
  • Employer’s Liability: £10,000,000
  • Professional Indemnity: £5,000,000

UK Data Protection

Kids is compliant with the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA2018) and GDPR and we will apply a privacy by design model to all personal, identifiable data. All data is handled securely and confidentially, in accordance with our core policies and within GDPR. Kids ’ policies, including the Confidentiality & Data Protection Policy and Use of IT Policy provides comprehensive guidelines for staff.

Regulated Services

Kids is a registered provider with Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission. Find out more about our service standards.

Safeguarding

We take seriously all reports of concern made by staff and volunteers and will follow these up appropriately using the Kids Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy and Procedures.

Webinars

We have webinars available on the mediation process – please contact us for details.

Training

We are able to provide bespoke training to local authority and CCG staff on SEND Legislation and on the Dispute Resolution and Mediation processes. Please contact us to discuss your requirements and we can provide you with a quote.