South Yorkshire restorative justice provider wins accreditation

Neighbourhood Resolutions, which runs its Restorative Approaches training course, is approved to deliver training by the Restorative Justice Council.

The organisation has a licence to deliver the course for the next five years.

It was set up in May 2012 as part of a Ministry of Justice pilot to deliver restorative justice in Barnsley in a bid to tackle anti-social behaviour and low level crime.

Restorative justice avoids cases reaching court and is used when culprits and victims both agree to cases being resolved out of court.

Julie Oxley, Neighbourhood Resolutions’ coordinator said: “We hope to now use this opportunity to provide further training to other practitioners in South Yorkshire to ensure the county continues to deliver the best restorative justice opportunities to victims of crime and the residents of South Yorkshire.”

South Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Dr Alan Billings, said: “Neighbourhood Resolutions can offer a service to communities to resolve neighbourhood disputes and anti-social behaviour issues that could quite quickly escalate into something a lot more serious.”