About Us

This means we are registered as a Charity with the Charities Commission - number 1081770.

We are also registered as a Company Limited by Guarantee with Companies House - number 3910382.

To read our latest Annual Report click here

Further information - click on the links:

The HCM Approach

Our Vision

Our Funding

Our Operating Principles

Quality Assurance

Our aim is to 'practice what we preach' or 'walk the talk' with regard to mediation.

Our mediating practices are not only adopted when we are out working with neighbours or other people in dispute. They are also practiced within our organisation. If we believe that mediation is a way of promoting constructive resolution of conflict and effective communication - why only use it with people in dispute?

Why not also use it within our organisation?

The Charitable objects stated in our Governing Document sum up what our aims are:

• To promote for the public benefit, predominantly but not exclusively in the local area or community of the London Borough of Hillingdon, the provision of services directed towards mediation, conflict management, conciliation or reconciliation as between persons, organisations, authorities or groups involved or likely to become involved in dispute or inter-personal conflict both generally and, in particular, in any situation where that dispute or conflict results from or may lead to acts of violence, nuisance, vandalism, racial abuse, sexual abuse, unlawful activity or breakdown of public order.




• To promote for the public benefit the education of the public, particularly in the said local area or community of the London Borough of Hillingdon, in the purposes and methods of such mediation, conflict management, conciliation or reconciliation and, in particular, the understanding of the nature and causes of any such disputes or conflicts and of all means of managing them for purposes of peaceful resolution in the interests of good citizenship.

Predominantly, our funding comes via Service Level Agreements with Hillingdon Homes and London Borough of Hillingdon to provide mediation for the residents of the borough. Some Housing Associations with stock in the borough also subscribe to our service giving their tenants access to mediation, while other Housing Associations buy us in on a case-by-case basis. Please contact us to see if your Housing Association subscribes.

We provide sub-contracted mediation in other fields such as Special Educational Needs, University student complaints mediation, workplace mediation and facilitation of groups in dispute.

We also provide training and consultancy in mediation and other related topics. This also generates an income for the organisation.

Our approach to funding differs from the traditional approach of charities in that we generate our income via contracts, subscriptions and Service Level Agreements.

We are quoted on the website of the Sustainable Funding Project run by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations as an example of an organisation that funds itself in this way.

We believe that operating like a social business or social enterprise means we can bring the benefits of business practice together with the social benefits of being a charity.

If we apply for grants it would be for a one off capital expenditure. Not for the ongoing costs of a project. This means we don’t suffer the negative effects of short term funding of projects and there isn’t a tendency for the person employed under the grant to spend a lot of time raising money for the extension of their post – or to spend the last 6 months of their contract looking for another job!

This also means that if we get involved in something we can see it as a long term project. We are able to see that we have generated the funding to support it (or that it will generate its own income as it progresses) and that we do it on our terms and not on the often ambiguous terms of a grant maker.

For anyone interested in the idea of sustainable funding of charities, we would recommend the following website:

We always try to operate our organisation according to the Principles of Effective Communication that we use when mediating.

We feel that if we believe mediation to provide an effective way of communicating and resolving conflict constructively then it makes sense for us to apply its Principles to the way we operate and work together.

We continuously refer to and expand upon these Principles during our training courses and our Coaching sessions. We begin each meeting with staff and volunteers with a talk through of the Principles, and we have them written at the head of our Management Committee agendas.

These Principles of Effective Communication are that we:

• Treat each other with respect
• Do not interrupt one another
• Have the right to pass
• Do not volunteer others
• Speak only for ourselves (speak in the ‘I’)
• Speak but not too often or for too long
• Respect CONFIDENTIALITY
• Challenge the behaviour and not the person
• Acknowledge that it is OK to make mistakes

An expanded discussion and exploration of how these Principles and Underlying Philosophies promote effective communication and enable conflict to be responded to constructively rather than destructively occurs on our mediator training course and is also provided in all our other training settings.

There is also a deeper discussion of the Principles, Underlying Philosophies and other related concepts on the Communication and Conflict website created by Alan Sharland, Director of Hillingdon Community Mediation.

Hillingdon Community Mediation uses PQASSO (Practical Quality Assurance System for Small Organisations) to continually review and develop its provision of a quality service and to help it operate in an effective and efficient manner in all areas of its operation.

We review on a monthly basis our performance in the 12 Quality Areas used in PQASSO and look for evidence to support our assessment of which of the 3 levels of attainment within each Area we have reached.

Unlike many other quality assurance systems, PQASSO is a continuous, dynamic process of review making the 'badge' awarded in many systems to suggest an organisation has 'made it' seem a little superficial. In PQASSO there is always more that can be achieved, and it is acknowledged that on a day to day basis, situations and activities may arise which take us to a higher level within a Quality Area or may mean that we have to adjust our policies and practices to maintain that level.

If you wish to find out more about PQASSO we would recommend the Charities Evaluation Services website.

We like PQASSO because it fits with our ethos of enabling people/ organisations to take responsibility for their own actions and development, and assumes that we have the willingness and capability to do so.

Just like in mediation.