Restorative Specialist Practitioner
This is a role for practitioners whose work is shaped by judgement, integrity and impact. You will be trusted to work at the sharp edge of restorative practice — where harm is profound, scrutiny is high, and the quality of your decisions matters deeply to the people involved.
A nationally significant restorative justice role with lasting impact
Salary: £35,000–£40,000 (FTE) + 5% matched pension
Contract: Initially a 3‑year fixed‑term appointment
Hours: Full time (37.5 hrs) or part time (18.75 hrs – days and working hours negotiable)
Location: Home-based (UK wide, with national travel)
A role where your work will change lives and shape national learning
This role sits at the centre of one of the most significant restorative justice programmes ever delivered in the UK.
The Restorative Justice Council (RJC) is recruiting eight Restorative Specialist Practitioners to work on the restorative response to the Post Office Horizon and Capture IT scandal, a miscarriage of justice that has caused profound, long‑term harm to individuals, families and communities across the country.
This programme is live, nationally mandated and operating under public scrutiny. The work you do will directly affect how people who have been harmed experience recognition, accountability and repair, often for the first time in decades.
As a Restorative Specialist Practitioner, your practice will:
- Enable people to be properly heard, many after years of disbelief or dismissal
- Support individuals to regain agency, dignity and control following systemic harm
- Contribute to safer, more ethical engagement between harmed individuals and powerful institutions
- Inform national learning about how restorative justice can be used responsibly in cases of large-scale institutional failure
This is work with real consequences, for participants, for organisations, and for the future use of restorative justice in complex national contexts.
ABOUT THE RESTORATIVE JUSTICE COUNCIL
The Restorative Justice Council is the national leadership organisation for restorative justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
We set standards, accredit practitioners and services, and safeguard the ethical use of restorative practice, particularly where the risks are high and the potential for further harm is significant.
In this programme, the RJC’s role is to ensure that restorative justice is delivered with independence, integrity and care, and that participants are never asked to shoulder responsibility that properly belongs to institutions.
UNDERSTANDING THE HORIZON RESTORATIVE JUSTICE PROGRAMME
Applicants are strongly encouraged to read the RJC’s second Horizon Project report:
Rebuilding Trust: Designing a Restorative Justice Programme with Those Harmed
Published by the Restorative Justice Council, this report marks a significant step in the RJC’s response to the harm caused by the Post Office Horizon IT scandal and the Capture IT System. It represents the second stage of the Council’s work and sets out, in full, the restorative justice programme that will be delivered from April 2026.
Grounded above all in careful listening, the report reflects sustained engagement with people who have lived with the consequences of these failures for many years. It shows how learning from those harmed has directly shaped the programme’s structure, principles and delivery, and how restorative justice can be designed in a way that is credible, ethical and responsive to lived experience.
Reading this report will provide important context for the role, the responsibilities involved, and the values and safeguards that underpin the programme.
ABOUT THE ROLE — AND THE DIFFERENCE YOU WILL MAKE
You will deliver restorative work across two integrated strands within the Horizon programme, each with distinct and meaningful impact.
1. RESTORATIVE WELLBEING LISTENING SESSIONS
Through trauma‑informed, participant‑led listening spaces, you will:
- Create conditions where people can speak openly without pressure or expectation
- Support individuals to make sense of harm that has often shaped their lives for years
- Help participants rebuild confidence, agency and trust in their own voice
- Identify appropriate next steps, support or restorative options
For many participants, this will be the first time their experience has been taken seriously on its own terms.
2. THE HORIZON PROJECT – FORMAL RESTORATIVE JUSTICE PROCESSES
Within formal restorative processes, your work will:
- Prepare participants for complex and emotionally demanding engagement
- Facilitate restorative meetings that are safe, structured and ethically sound
- Manage cases involving organisational and systemic harm with care and authority
- Support participants before, during and after restorative engagement
- Capture anonymised learning that will shape national understanding and future policy
Your practice will directly influence how restorative justice is understood, trusted and used in cases of institutional failure.
WHO WE’RE LOOKING FOR
We are seeking practitioners whose work is already making a difference and who want to apply their expertise where it will have lasting national impact.
This role is suited to practitioners who are:
- Experienced and grounded in complex restorative work
- Ethically rigorous and confident in professional judgement
- Able to hold emotional, organisational and moral complexity
- Committed to practice that centres dignity, safety and agency
WHAT MAKES THE IMPACT OF THIS ROLE DISTINCTIVE
- Your work will directly affect people harmed by one of the UK’s most serious justice failures
- You will contribute to a programme shaping how institutions engage with accountability and repair
- Your practice will inform national learning, standards and future restorative responses
- You will work within a robust, well-supported ethical framework — not in isolation
- You will help demonstrate what safe, responsible restorative justice looks like at scale
A ROLE WITH LASTING SIGNIFICANCE
This is not just a delivery role. It is an opportunity to apply advanced restorative practice where it matters most, to support individuals, influence institutional behaviour, and contribute to a national legacy of learning, accountability and repair.
HOW TO APPLY
Applications must be submitted via the RJC application form.
CVs and covering letters will not be accepted.
Please ensure your application addresses each essential and desirable criterion, using examples to demonstrate your readiness for this work.
RECRUITMENT PROCESS
- Longlisting based on application forms
- Online interview for shortlisted applicants
- In‑person interview for final candidates
This staged process reflects the responsibility, sensitivity and public importance of the role.
APPLICATION TIMELINE
Applications close: 12 noon on Wednesday 15 April
Online interviews for longlisted candidates: Thursday 23 April and Friday 24 April
Please ensure you are available on these dates before submitting your application.
READY TO APPLY?
Please note:
- The application is completed via an online form
- The form cannot be saved once started
- We recommend allowing approximately 45 minutes to complete your application in one sitting
This is an opportunity to bring your restorative practice expertise to work that will leave a lasting national legacy.
Recruitment enquires should be made to enquiries@restorativejustice.org.uk
