On Wednesday this week (1st July), Why me? submitted a letter to Lord Timpson, Minister for Prisons and Probation, outlining the sector’s concerns with ReHub’s new policy.
Signed by over 45 other organisations and practitioners, the letter was based on a consultation process where Why me? gathered the views of the restorative sector. ReHub’s new policy, which was created following their internal review, introduces a ‘presumption of unsuitability’ for certain categories of crime.
What did our response say?
We urged the ReHub team to consider the following priority changes:
- Replace the language of “presumption of unsuitability” with a requirement for enhanced safety and risk thresholds for complex and sensitive cases, and work collaboratively with the sector to establish what this would look like.
- Monitor and publish the impact of the policy changes.
For the full list of supporters of the letter, see below.
The letter, which was sent directly to Lord Timpson and Julia Whyte, the Head of ReHub, was accompanied by a briefing which outlined the sector’s wider concerns and summarised our findings from a forum we held in May. It covered the key issues raised consistently across the sector, including:
- Acknowledgement of the need for operational improvements
- Presumptions that restrict victim choice and practitioner judgement
- Practitioners’ views on the new presumption
- Increasing barriers that further limit access to Restorative Justice
- Contradiction with the Victims’ Code and statutory entitlements
- A functional ban on Restorative Justice for certain offence categories
- Risk assessment must be individualised, not determined by offence category
- A localised model to improve efficiency and maximise resources
- Current sector safeguarding and risk practices
- Areas where national guidance would be valuable
- How Re:Hub can best support safe delivery of RJ
- Clarity and implementation concerns
- Key calls from the sector
What now?
On Thursday, Why me? attended a stakeholder engagement session run by the ReHub team, to feed back on their proposed changes. They confirmed that they had received and read the letter, and we reiterated the contents of it throughout the session, raising questions and challenges about the new policy. We will await the outcome of their stakeholder engagement sessions and will keep you updated as we hear more.
Please feel free to share the above letter and briefing with Lord Timpson or the ReHub team yourself, explaining that you support the messages within it. If you didn’t get the chance to sign it but would like to have your name added to the list below, let us know.
Thank you to all those who informed our consultation, and signed the letter. We truly hope that this will inform ReHub’s upcoming engagement and that we can collaborate to find a solution that ensures participant safety without reducing access to Restorative Justice.
Thank you to all those that supported the letter:
Why me?
The Common Ground Justice Project
John Tizard – Police and Crime Commissioner for Bedfordshire
Mark Ansell – High Sheriff of Devon and Cornwall
Shekinah
Restorative Bedfordshire
Restorative Approaches – Janet Clark, Lead
Belong: Making Justice Happen – Esther Wanjie-Nyeko, CEO
Victim Support – Karen Holgate, Operations Manager – Specialist Services
Sussex Pathways – Paula Lee, COO
Restorative Engagement Forum – Charlotte Calkin, Director
Transform Justice – Fionnuala Ratcliffe, Deputy Director
Make Amends – Gemma Leeming, Advanced Accredited Restorative Justice Facilitator
Cambridgeshire Constabulary – Paige Phelan, Restorative Justice Coordinator
Lancashire Constabulary – Claire Joule, Restorative Justice and OOCR Manager
Northumbria Police – Emma Brown, Service Manager
Restorative Gloucestershire – Anneliese Vickers, RJ Case Co-ordinator & Advanced Practitioner
The Mint House – Rosie Chadwick, Chair of Trustees
Catch 22 – Emma Jones, Assistant Director Victim Services
Professor Tim Chapman – University of Strathclyde
Joan Scourfield – Restorative Justice participant
David Hodgkinson – Restorative Justice participant
William Gilluley – Restorative Justice participant
Teresa Parker – Restorative Justice participant
Nick Dawson – Restorative Justice participant
Ray Smith – Inside Time
Wendy McLean – Resolve West
Christina Heward-Mills – Victim Support
Samantha Duncalf – Victim Support
Nicola Maguire-Alcock – Victim Support
Andrea Slough – Victim Support
Niamh Crabtree – Victim Support
Karen Holgate – Victim Support
Clair Breton – Thames Valley Adult Victims Service
Hugh Shiel – Northumbria Victim & Witness Service
Kerry Baker – Gloucestershire Constabulary
Julie Ellerslie – Gloucestershire Constabulary
Abigail Stevens Stone – The Mint House
Phil Cawley – Liverpool John Moores University
Emily Wills – Restorative Gloucestershire
Alida Maria Hageman – Restorative Justice Gloucester
Jenna O’Connor – Make Amends
Darren Webb – Make Amends
Claire Baldock – Shekinah Make Amends
Clare Hein – Restorative Together, Wiltshire
Becky Childs – Circle Consulting
Emma Goddard
Caroline Rountree
Ben Tague
Lucy Evans
