At Cafcass we know why you became a Social Worker. To make a difference. We know you want to spend time on the parts of your work that really enable that to happen. We also understand you want support to continue your professional development while having a healthy work life balance.

This understanding helped us build working practices that contributed to OFSTED rating us as "outstanding" when they recently inspected us and why we are a recent winner of the Social Work Employer of the Year award and multiple other accolades around flexible working and health and wellbeing too. 

Our Social Workers are called Family Court Advisers. They advise the Family Court as children and families go through significant events including care proceedings, adoption and parental separation.This will involve meeting with children as well as family members, teachers and health professionals and attending court hearings to represent the voice child/children involved.

In this role you will be part of our Work After First Hearing Team (WAFH) supporting Staffordshire with an office base in Stafford, although the technology we provide combined with the trust we place in you as a professional allows you to work flexibly.

Should you join us you’ll use your social work skills and experience to understand what the child needs, wants and feels. Then you will advise the Family Courts on the best course of action for the child. You’ll do this by providing confident, powerful and succinct written case analysis and make recommendations to the court.  You’ll also attend court and be an advocate for the best interests of the child, ensuring their voice is not lost.

As you can imagine our work is demanding. So to be considered for such a privileged, responsible role of being the voice of some of the most vulnerable children in England, there are a few things we're looking for from you:

• Qualified Social Worker with at least 3 years experience
• Registered with the HCPC as a Social Worker in England
• Experienced at working with highly vulnerable children and families
• An expert in safeguarding, child engagement, inter-agency working, case analysis, planning and recording.

We also think you for you to succeed and truly make a difference you should be someone who;

• Is resilient and organised
• Can work proportionately
• Has strong, intuitive IT skills
• Is an effective verbal and written communicator

Now we've told you about the role we hope you're ready to complete our short application process, including providing us with your current CV. Before you do, let us outline some of the benefits you'll be eligible for should you join us;

• Competitive salary
• Generous holiday entitlement
• Membership of a Local Government Pension Scheme
• Potential to bring your continuous service with you providing enhanced benefits
• Health & Wellbeing support including Healthcare Scheme Membership
• Payment of HCPC fees
• Cycle to Work Scheme

We hope you’ve decided this is a role you would like, if so click please complete our short application process to let us know of your interest in this role.

We’d also like to let you know of the timescales we aiming to work to for this recruitment campaign. This will also help you know when you can expect to hear from us by.

Last date for applications:  26/08/2019

This date is potentially subject to change but rest assured we will be in touch as quickly as we can.

If you want to find out a bit more about us why should consider joining us visit www.cafcass.gov.uk/cafcass-careers or to view all of our current vacancies, go to Current Cafcass Vacancies.

We are committed to equality of opportunity for all staff and applications from individuals are encouraged regardless of age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and marriage and civil partnerships. We are also a Disability Confident Employer which further underlines our commitment to employ, train, retain and develop the careers of colleagues with disabilities.

 Please be advised successful applicants will be subject to a range of pre-employment checks, including a Disclosure and Barring Service check (DBS). In accordance with the DBS code of practice and our own policy, should an individual have a declared criminal offence an individual assessment will be completed. Further information on what the assessment covers can be found by viewing the Cafcass DBS policy.