A national pilot exploring how restorative justice can be delivered effectively for children and young people across England and Wales is being expanded thanks to the agreement of multi-year funding. The Coram Institute for Children will evaluate the implementation of the model, to inform national restorative justice programme and policy design in the youth justice system.
The project will deliver a shared practice model of restorative justice across 10 youth justice services (YJSs). The pilot is being led by Restorative Justice for All International Institute (RJ4All), supported by the Youth Justice Board, and backed by multi-year funding from the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF).
Restorative justice has been formally part of the youth justice system in England and Wales since the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, yet its promise has never been fully realised and its overall picture has remained fragmented. This pilot responds directly to the absence of consistent, robust evidence on what works for children and young people who have offended.
Professor Theo Gavrielides, Founder and Director of RJ4All, said: “For too long, restorative justice in the youth justice system has operated without the kind of rigorous evidence base it deserves. This pilot is an opportunity to change that. By developing a shared practice model with practitioners on the ground and testing it properly, we can begin to build the evidence that policymakers, victims, and young people themselves need. We are grateful to the Youth Endowment Fund and the Youth Justice Board for entrusting RJ4All and all participating Youth Justice Services with this important work.“
From July to December 2025, RJ4All worked with ten selected Youth Justice Service teams across England and Wales to co-design the Shared Practice Model: Implementing Restorative Justice in Youth Justice Settings, with the technical support of a dedicated Restorative Justice Practitioners Board and insights from fifteen young people with lived experience of restorative justice. The Coram Institute for Children, the independent evaluation partner, has designed a rigorous pilot randomised controlled trial to evaluate the feasibility of implementing the model, assess evidence of promise, and establish the readiness to conduct a definitive trial.
Designed for practitioners and youth justice professionals working within the formal system, the model sets out ten practical steps for delivering direct and indirect restorative justice with children and young people aged 10 to 17, from initial referral and risk assessment through to the encounter, outcome monitoring, and holistic follow-up. It is grounded in the Child First evidence base, centred on victims, and allows flexibility to reflect local needs.
The model is now moving into its Delivery and Evaluation phase, testing further across 10 YJSs in Cambridgeshire, Cardiff, Buckinghamshire, the Isle of Wight, Lambeth, Leeds, Northamptonshire, Salford, West Mercia and Southwark. Training and implementation will be tailored to each service, with ongoing oversight to ensure consistency and quality throughout the pilot.
Jake Grout-Smith, Assistant Director of Impact, Programmes and Partnerships at Youth Endowment Fund, said: “Our Violence Prevention Toolkit suggests restorative justice can have a high impact — reducing violence by 34% and reoffending by 15% on average. But most of the evidence comes from the US, and we need to better understand how it works here in the UK. This evaluation will generate important insights into delivering restorative justice more consistently and, if successful, will lay the foundations for a full-scale efficacy trial.”
Emily Blackshaw, Principal Investigator, The Coram Institute for Children said: “We are delighted to be conducting this pilot randomised controlled trial for the Youth Endowment Fund, alongside RJ4All. Despite growing interest in restorative justice approaches, there remains limited evidence on how and for whom these interventions work, particularly for children who have offended. This pilot will generate much‑needed evidence to inform policy and practice, strengthening the evidence base on what works in youth justice, and ensuring that children receive timely and appropriate support.”
An online conference later this year will bring together practitioners, policymakers and academics to share early learning and support wider system adoption. Further details will be announced in due course.