Best Practice

Summary of key documents for England and Wales

Best Practice guidance for Restorative Practitioners, and their Case Supervisors and Line Managers (Home Office - UK wide)

National Occupational Standards in Restorative Practice (Skills for Justice - live April 2010)

RJC Principles of Restorative Processes (2004) and Principles as applied in a School Setting

Referral Orders and Youth Offender Panels Guidance (Youth Justice Board) Revised Referral Order Guidance was published in May 2009 by the YJB, Ministry of Justice and DCSF to provide information on new provisions on Referral Orders that came into force April 2009 following the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008.

Key Elements of Effective Practice: Restorative Justice (Youth Justice Board) (Source document) This guidance outlines, for practitioners and managers, effective practice in restorative justice.

Standards and Accreditation

In 2008 the Restorative Justice Consortium, in conjunction with the independent consultancy JPA Europe Limited, undertook a project to map out a ‘blueprint’ for accreditation in restorative practice.

The results of this major project - funded by the Wates Foundation - were presented by JPA at our Annual General Meeting on October 30th. Click the links to download the RJC Blueprint for Accreditation of Restorative Practice and executive summary.

One of the key recommendations of this project was the establishment of a board to take forward the RJC's important work in this area. With the innaugral meeting of the RJC Standards and Accreditation Board (SAB) in December 2009, RJC has met this recommendation. The SAB has identified five workstreams for its attention in 2010/11, they are;

1) Support Skills for Justice pilot of new Continuing Professional Development Award in restorative practice and create a national register of accredited practitioners.

2) Develop RJC policy on which awards (including the above Development Award) the RJC should support and endorse.

3) Review the RJC Trainers Voluntary Code of Practice and develop a Practitioner Code of Practice.

4) Deveop internal policies for the SAB and SAB Advisory Panel.

5) Support RJC staff in their work relating to professional standards including advising the development of the RJC Annual Practitioners' Day.

National Occupational Standards for Restorative Practice

Skills for Justice is the dedicated Sector Skills Council and Standards Setting Body for the Justice sector. Following a consultation with RJ practitioners and employers, and building on the Best Practice Guidance for Restorative Practitioners (Home Office, 2004) Skills for Justice published in November 2006 National Occupational Standards for restorative practice. These standards have now been revised and a new suite of NOS were approved in April 2010.

The standards have not yet been grouped into awards (NVQs or continuing development awards); but everyone working in restorative practice can use them informally to benchmark and support their own work, and for supervising the work of restorative practitioners. RJC is supporting a Skills for Justice pilot of a Development Award in Restorative Practice which will enable accreditation of restorative practice for the first time in England (with the potential to extend to Wales and the rest of the UK).

Best Practice Guidance

Best Practice guidance for Restorative Practitioners, and their Case Supervisors and Line Managers - December 2004 
Includes guidance for restorative practitioners, their case supervisors, line managers and includes the final conclusions and recommendations of the Training and Accreditation Policy Group (group of stakeholders, formed as a recommendation of the Government Strategy, who met monthly between September 2003 and October 2004 to develop policy in the area of restorative justice). The recommendations include the development, by Skills for Justice of new National Occupational Standards (NOS) on restorative justice, based on the best practice; and new awards (which would be NVQs or similar) based on NOS. Skills for Justice has agreed to take this forward and the new NOS are expected by Autumn 2005.

RJC Best Practice documentation

Principles of Restorative Processes (2004) This Statement of Principles is a revised version of the Statement of Restorative Justice Principles published in 2002.These Principles form the basis for restorative practices in all settings, using all models, where the primary aims are to repair harm and promote dialogue.This document will be reviewed on a regular basis and may be amended following consultation. Along with the Principles, the Statement of Restorative Principles as Applied in a Schools Setting was published in 2003 (Principles as applied in a School Setting). This document is an explanatory document on the application of the Principles in different areas of practice. This document is based on the 2002 version of the principles. Restorative practices are underpinned by a set of values, these include: Empowerment, Honesty, Respect, Engagement, Voluntarism, Healing, Restoration, Personal Accountability, Inclusiveness, Collaboration, and Problem-solving.

Other resources

Frequently Asked Questions: Implementing Restorative Processes in the Adult CJS

Frequently Asked Questions: Implementing Restorative Process in a Custodial Setting

What is RJ? - Flyer

Association of Restorative Practitioners 

International

• New Zealand
  New Zealand Principles of Best Practice (Ministry of Justice) 2004
• UN
  UN Basic Principles of Restorative Justice
• Canada
  Values and Principles of Restorative Justice in Criminal Matters
  Restorative Justice Program Guidelines