A SCHEME in which offenders hear from their victims about the impact of their crime has been given national recognition.

The Sussex Restorative Justice Partnership won the investment strategy of the year category at the inaugural Public Finance Innovation Awards.

The scheme was recognised for its range of successes in the two-and-half years it has been running.

Restorative justice has been proven to have a greater impact on an offender than a prison sentence or a court punishment alone.

Under the system the offender has to face the consequences of their actions and in most cases this contributes to changes in their behaviour.

Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne said she was delighted the partnership had been recognised for its use of funding provided by the Ministry of Justice.

She said: “Before our partnership was formed restorative justice was inconsistent across Sussex.

“Two-and-a-half years later we have a dedicated group of practitioners, criminal justice agencies and voluntary organisations, all working together to ensure both victims and offenders are offered the chance to access a restorative service.”

The award judges praised the partnership’s results, saying: “We were impressed by the diversity of the social outcomes, ranging from victims to homeowners to whole community regeneration.”

The partnership was formed in September 2014 to pull together more than 20 agencies that have an interest and commitment to deliver services to victims and offenders of crime.

These include Sussex Police, Victim Support, the prison service and the probation service.

Three restorative justice co-ordinators now work across the county from three hubs in Brighton, Bexhill and Bognor with back-up from 45 trained support workers.

More than 590 referrals were dealt with between April 2015 and March 2016.

During this period the system received a 100 per cent victim satisfaction score.

The scheme also recorded significant reductions in reoffending.