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We are recruiting for the role of Family Court Adviser (Qualified Social Worker) in our Public Law teams covering the Cornwall area and our Public Law team covering Plymouth.
We trust and empower colleagues to work in a hybrid way, providing the resources, equipment, and support, so that individually and collectively, we can be the voice of children and young people when the Family Court makes critical decisions about their futures.
We are proud that Ofsted judged us to be ‘outstanding’ when they inspected us in early 2024, but we haven’t come this far only to come this far. This outcome has energised us to just keep getting better at what we do for children and families.
Whilst this role is part of a team based from our office in Plymouth, our teams work flexibly and remotely, your proximity to the office doesn’t always have to be a critical consideration.
We are a diverse, inclusive organisation that is a safe space for colleagues with shared aspects of identity and lived experience, which helps ensure we provide a service which promotes the diversity and uniqueness of children and families from all backgrounds. We especially welcome applications from people from diverse backgrounds as we strive to ensure our workforce reflects the diversity of the children and families we work with.
We provide extensive wellbeing support for colleagues, as well as excellent benefits, all of which we hope encourages you to join us.
Let us tell you a bit more about the role…
Our Public Law teams are involved with cases where the local authority has serious concerns about the safety or welfare of a child, and the court requests for Cafcass to become involved in the case. The Cafcass Social Worker, often referred to as Children’s Guardians, is typically involved with the child across an extended period carrying out relevant assessments to understand their needs, wants and feelings, and effectively communicate this to the court through a combination of written reports and giving evidence.
… and what we’re looking for.
Being a Family Court Adviser is very rewarding – but it’s not for everyone. You must be a Social Work England registered Social Worker who’s organised, resilient and able to work independently. Confident in your abilities, you’ll have demonstrable experience of working with children and families over a sustained period as a Social Worker, potentially supplemented from relevant experience from earlier in your career also.
You can find out more about the above - and much more - before you apply and we also recommend you read the job description.
Benefits
We also know that to join us you want to be rewarded in a variety of ways, including quality time away from work to spend time with those important to you, support to manage your financial present and future, whilst also being trusted to manage your work/life balance. We have an extensive package of benefits that you can find out more about when you click through, including excellent holidays and a generous Local Government Pension Scheme to name just two things.
We also understand that you will want to work for an organisation that is both passionate and committed to supporting your wellbeing. As you will find out when you visit our vacancy page, the four dedicated, additional days per year when colleagues are encouraged to spend time focusing on their health and wellbeing is just one of a multitude of ways in which we do this.
Next steps / timelines
If and when you are ready to apply, our application process is straightforward and quick to complete. You don’t need to complete your application in a single visit, you can start it and come back and amend your responses / update your CV, just make sure you come back before the closing date to submit.
Below we have given you an indication of a timetable we are hoping to work towards, although dates are subject to change.
Closing date:
Monday 15 April 2024
Initial interview:
Tuesday 16 April 2024
Final Interview:
Wednesday 24 April 2024
We understand that starting a new role is a big decision, and you may require further information before applying. You can find out more about the role in the Job Description and there is a wealth of information about Cafcass on our Cafcass Careers page.
If you wish to speak with a member of the team for more specific information you can either contact Daisy Sheldon at daisy.sheldon@cafcass.gov.uk from our HR Resourcing team if your query is HR related or to do with the recruitment process, or Stephanie Coole at stephanie.coole@cafcass.gov.uk if your questions relate more to the role, providing your contact information and best times / methods to get hold of you.
Whilst we will always try and respond a.s.a.p. we wouldn’t want you to miss the closing date before we are able to. If this is the case, we recommend you apply and as part of your application you can ask questions, and this may allow us to contact you and provide you with the required information that will help you decide if you still wish to be considered.
Finally, in anticipation of your application being successful, you might want to read about the offer and pre-employment checks process. As part of your application you can highlight any concerns or questions about the pre-employment checks and we encourage all applicants to do so, safe in the knowledge such information will not be shared with individuals involved in the selection process.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Please be advised successful applicants will be subject to a range of pre-engagement 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.
