Government backs our campaign to boost Restorative Justice
Major proGress for our Right To Be Heard campaign
During the passage of the Victims and Courts Bill in October 2025, the Victims Minister responded in Parliament to calls for greater access to Restorative Justice (RJ), telling MPs:
“Punch is probably the best example of restorative justice anyone can see… The Prisons Minister and the Secretary of State are both passionate believers in restorative justice, and we are looking closely as a department at how we can bring out restorative justice programmes across the Ministry of Justice.”
This welcome commitment is a huge milestone for our campaign, raising RJ up the national agenda. It came after Paul Kohler MP tabled an amendment proposing that all victims should have the right to request restorative justice – the central ask of our Right To Be Heard campaign.
Speaking during the debate, Kohler highlighted why access to restorative justice matters so much for victims:
“Restorative justice can be profoundly powerful for victims – giving them the chance to ask the questions only the offender can answer and to explain the real impact of the crime.”
Kohler’s support for restorative justice is grounded in personal experience. After being the victim of crime himself, he took part in a restorative justice process and has spoken about the impact it had on him. You can read more about his story here: https://why-me.org/pauls-story/.
While the amendment was not ultimately pushed to a vote, the debate secured something important: a clear commitment from government to act on expanding access to Restorative Justice.
We are hugely grateful to Paul for championing this issue in Parliament, and for the more than 3,000 people who have now signed our Right To Be Heard petition, calling for every victim to be given the opportunity to request Restorative Justice if they want it.
This is the common ground in action, and marks real progress for the campaign. In the months ahead, we will continue working with victims, practitioners and policymakers – and holding the government to account on its commitment to expand access to restorative justice.
Add your name to the campaign here:
https://www.commongroundjustice.uk/righttobeheard