Previous Work

Restorative Justice in the UK

Restorative Solutions have previously designed, developed or delivered Restorative Justice Services for Police & Crime Commissioners in:

• Avon and Somerset

• Bedfordshire

• Cambridgeshire

• Cleveland

• Cumbria

• Devon and Cornwall

• Durham

• Dyfed Powys

• Essex

• Greater Manchester

• Gwent

• Hertfordshire

• Leicestershire

• London

• Northamptonshire

• South Yorkshire

• Staffordshire

• West Midlands

Restorative Practice in the UK

Restorative Solutions have worked across a wide range of sectors in the UK:

• Local Authorities: We have developed bespoke package and policy documents for many local authorities. The delivery of training and enhancement of skills is as diverse as the authorities themselves and includes working with finance officers, catering staff, refuse workers, housing teams, income and revenue teams, adult care staff, human resources. We are engaged with all roles and teams at all pay grades to senior management.

• Children and Young People’s Services. We were the first to write bespoke training for the looked after system back in 2002. We have delivered this in regions too many to mention but they include: Hertfordshire, Hampshire, Durham, East Sussex, Lewisham, North Lanarkshire, Gwent, Shropshire, Hackney and Barnett, North and South Wales, Kent, Devon and Cornwall, Peterborough, Bedfordshire.

• Health and Emergency Services: Restorative Practice in Health began with a proof of concept initiative with Salford Royal Foundation Trust. This has evidenced the effectiveness of Restorative Approaches in preventing patient concerns becoming formal complaints. We nurtured an understanding of the processes, systems and support for staff at all levels that is required to adopt new ways of working. We have moved forward to develop a bespoke training programme and service delivery model for the Health Sector.

• We have bespoke packages and experience of delivering to all emergency service providers taking account of each individual field of expertise and needs.

• Schools and Higher Education: Alongside working nationally with individual schools including delivering to children and young people as well as teaching and support staff we are called upon to share our expertise on implementation by universities. We are currently advancing this area of our work and in close collaboration with more than one seat of adult learning working towards the introduction of restorative practice with the exciting prospect of seeing restorative universities.

• Counselling and Psychotherapy Agencies: We have solid experience of working with children and young people’s psychology teams to further enhance their ability to add restorative elements to their roles. We expand this further to those in training. We are experienced in working with students of counselling as well as psychotherapists.

• Courts: Co-ordinating and facilitating victim-initiated, direct or indirect RJ, where appropriate, in relation to cases before Magistrates and Crown Courts. Liaising with out of area restorative services/courts where the victim is resident in one region but the case is heard out of area. Having delivered the Pre -Sentence RJ Pathfinder Programme we have built up substantial expertise in the introduction of Court Based RJ within the constraints of Transforming Summary Justice and better case management timeliness targets.

• Religious Groups: We have many years of working with faith leaders to assist the resolution of community problems. It is not appropriate for us to detail these interactions and their locations for privacy reasons.  Our ability to work with serious and diverse issues is prominent and quite unique; We have for example been currently seeking to reengage individuals after exclusion from their mosque through a series of delicate meetings.

• Public / Private sector Workplaces: We are engaged by senior managers to deal with workplace disputes and are experienced in everything from one to one conflict between staff to whole team and department discord and disruption to find resolutions and restore better workplaces. 

• Premier League Football Clubs: We have delivered bespoke training to both mentors and coaches on how to deal with all levels of conflict when working with community projects and rival groups. 

Internationally RS have worked with:

• The Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Anguilla and the Turks and Caicos Islands, training Police Prison and Probation staff. We worked face to face with prisoners in Anguilla to begin restorative interventions with them and their victims as a model for prison staff.

• In Norway with the Norwegian Mediation Service and Police Service to facilitate RJ within the Criminal Justice Process.

• In the Czech Republic to support the introduction of RJ into the Czech Probation Service, Police Service and Children’s Services through training, policy making and strategic implementation.

• Estonia to introduce Restorative Practice to Policing.

• In New Zealand supporting the introduction of RJ to the Adult Court System.

• We have and continue to work in many smaller countries and Jurisdictions; Guernsey (Trained and advised on policy procedures and documents: Police; Prison; Probation Service: Children’s Services), Jersey, The Isle of Man, St. Helena (Training and advice to Island Public Sector Agencies). We have worked with these groups for more than twenty years and understand the individual needs.

• Delivering presentations in Finland, Belgium, United States of America (Training and Advice), Canada (Introduced RJ to The New Westminster Police in Vancouver) and many more.

• Supporting programmes in Canada (Circles of Support and Accountability), Zambia (correctional services/prisons, Advice, Support and Provision of Documents).

The Police and Crime Commissioner for Cumbria commissioned Restorative Solutions to deliver Step Up, a programme to address adolescent to parent/carer violence.

The Step Up program was an innovative and dynamic initiative that provided support to families experiencing child-to-parent violence in the home. The program incorporated enhanced communication skills training, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and restorative approaches. It aimed to build resilience within families by helping each member break cycles of abuse and become accountable for their actions. Families learned and practiced effective communication skills to de-escalate situations.

The initial pilot program was commissioned by Cumbria OPCC in 2015 and underwent an external evaluation by the Brathay Trust.

Families voluntarily attended the program after referral by statutory services or by self-referring. Each program ran for 14-21 weeks, consisting of weekly 2-hour sessions. Families participated as a unit, in separate young people and parent groups, or in one-on-one sessions depending on their needs. Parental motivations for joining the program included "I just want my child back" and "This has to stop now, I need help."

In early 2020, in response to the pandemic, the program was adapted for remote delivery using phone and video conferencing with individual families. As of July 2022, the program operated as a hybrid model, offering both face-to-face and remote sessions to families.