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Centre for People's Justice (CPJ)

Overview

The Centre for People’s Justice (CPJ) is not a physical centre, it’s an idea/concept, a thought space.  It’s led by universities from across the UK including Liverpool, Glasgow, London, Sheffield, Swansea, Wrexham, Leicester.  Liverpool is the CPJ headquarters.  The Centre is trying to find ways for ordinary people feel they understand how laws are made and are listened to and involved in law making.  There are 38 organisations forming part of the CPJ including four steering groups of which the Investing in Children group is one.  The group have been consulted on the Public Office (Accountability) Bill (known as the Hillsborough Law) particularly around the Centre’s social media presence, the Centre’s research agendas, provided feedback on research applications regarding proposals in the areas of dental care, temporary accommodation and the physical punishment of children in England and most recently provided their thoughts and opinions on the Gillick competency case.

Funding Source

The funding was received from Centre for People’s Justice

Impact

The group have had a significant impact on the CPJ social media presence on the Hillsborough Law.  Professor Lydia Hayes told the group that she sought their advice and they had said things she hadn’t expected them to.  She said “you made my brain grow” and it had helped make her a better researcher.  In addition, their feedback on ethics had assisted her in a recent ethics application.  During a visit to the Centre in Liverpool in May, the group were asked for their opinions on the Gillick competency case which has its 40th anniversary this year.  They spoke about their feelings on children and young people under 16 being able to make decisions about their own health and these opinions will inform the planning of a Gillick event being held at the Centre later this year.  Young people tell us that they like the fact that the CPJ regularly feeds back to the group about how their input is being used to change things.  Two of the group said: “she does listen to us and I feel that we are heard and what we’re saying isn’t going to waste” and “we did see changes”.

Engagement and Outcomes

Having used the young people’s advice on the Hillsborough law project, the CPJ began using TikTok in their social media campaign.  It had been 10 times more successful than other platforms and the format of films was changed as the group had encouraged her to “make things snappy”.  Whilst some group input could not be used due to university research application procedures, the group enjoyed participating in sessions where they created innovative ways to submit a research proposal.  The group have had many opportunities to ask questions about all the topics covered and some felt that the work around research applications was very interesting: “I feel a lot closer to research now”.  One session posed the question “What is the Centre for People’s Justice?”  The group created diagrams and pictures of their thoughts and ideas and these will form part of the new CPJ website.

Recent Activity

May 2026

The group visited the Centre in Liverpool.  Following their arrival and a welcome lunch, there was a discussion led by Professor Helen Stalford on the project.  The group were asked what has gone well/not and what were the favourite elements of the project.  The group shared their experiences and also considered what professors and other academics should consider when consulting young people.  The university’s Young People’s Advisory Group (YPAG) joined the Investing in Children group for a discussion around a Gillick event being held to mark the 40th anniversary of the case.  The visit ended with a presentation about what has been achieved during the year from Professor Lydia Hayes and certificates were awarded to all group members to acknowledge their input.

The group spent the entire meeting looking through the research applications on the areas of dental care, temporary accommodation and the physical punishment of children in England.  They annotated paper copies and discussed each application within small groups.

The group considered questions such as:

What keeps you coming to meetings? Most felt they were part of a community; others liked the group and the conversations and some mentioned fun and payment for their participation.

How do we fit into the CPJ? Prof Hayes explained the structure of the CPJ and the 38 organisations it’s made of and where the steering groups sit within that.

How would you describe the project/CPJ? Each member of the group prepared notes, illustrations or diagrams to describe the project. 

Prof Hayes provided the group with a summary of the CPJ’s latest work (Christmas Island nuclear tests and how the truth about radiation and the harm it could cause was lied about).