Business Service Officer

Cafcass (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service); Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 22,000 - 28,000; Full time

Job summary

Cafcass is recruiting for the role of Business Services Officer on a Fixed Term Contract until 31 March 2027 in our Birmingham team. The role supports colleagues when they are in the office, including Social Workers and teams, with a mix of remote work and regular Birmingham office presence.

You will have regular 1:1 time with your manager, with a balance of remote and in-person work to maintain flexibility and personal connections.

Qualifications

• A relevant qualification in business administration (e.g. NVQ2) or significant experience in a similar role.
• Strong MS Office skills (Word, Excel, Outlook) at basic/intermediate level.
• Clear, confident communicator via email, phone and in person.
• Able to prioritise work in a fast-moving environment with deadlines.

Responsibilities

• monitoring case progression
• receiving referrals from the Court or Cafcass Intake Team
• create / update / close cases within our case management system
• sending letters and information packs to service users
• identify any missing information and follow-up as required
• receive and deal with telephone enquiries
• meet and greet visitors, including service users
• general admin support

Skills

MS Office

Education

NVQ2 in Business Administration

Job description

We are recruiting for the role of Business Services Officer on a Fixed Term Contract until 31 March 2027 in our team covering Birmingham. In this role you will play a key role in supporting our teams and colleagues when they are in the office, like our Social Workers seeing children and families, or our teams being together for team meetings or supervision. Therefore, whilst you will benefit from working flexibly, including some remote working, you will also be required to be in the Birmingham office on a regular basis.

If you join us you expect to have regular 1:1 time with your manager, especially during your induction, and again there will be a balance between doing this remotely and in-person so you have both flexibility and opportunities to form connections.

If shortlisted, the hiring manager will be able to give you more insight into what a typical week or month might look like should you join us.

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…

• monitoring case progression
• receiving referrals from the Court or Cafcass Intake Team
• create / update / close cases within our case management system
• sending letters and information packs to service users
• identify any missing information and follow-up as required
• receive and deal with telephone enquiries
• meet and greet visitors, including service users
• general admin support

… And What We’re Looking For.

• A relevant qualification in business administration (e.g. NVQ2), a willingness to work towards to a qualification and/or significant experience in a similar role
• Confident and capable of using MS Office applications to a basic / intermediate level
• Clear, confident communicator via email, phone and in person
• Someone who thrives working in a team
• Able to prioritise work in a fast-moving environment with strict deadlines

Next steps / timelines

Below we have given you an indication of a timetable we are hoping to work towards, although dates are subject to change.

Closing Date

4 October 2026

Final Interview

14 & 15 October 2026

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 Michelle Berridge [e-mail] from our HR Resourcing team if your query is HR related or to do with the recruitment process, or Claire Trifonos [e-mail] if your questions relate more to the role, providing your contact information and best times / methods to get hold of you.

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.

Be Their Voice

We are Cafcass – the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service – and we represent children in family court cases in England.

Independently advising the family courts about what is safe for children and in their best interests, we speak up for over 130,0000 children every year when the family court makes critical decisions about their futures, ensuring their needs, wishes and feelings are heard.

Watch our video to find out we don’t just listen to children’s voices but we can be their voice.

If our purpose resonates with you, and you share our ambitions for children - exceptional experiences, for every child, everywhere and every time - then if you join us, you will work alongside like-minded people in a diverse, inclusive and supportive organisation.

You will be trusted to work flexibly and independently using outstanding technology (e.g. touchscreen laptops, iPhone, all with first class support, including IT Trainers) with access to substantial resources (e.g. Cafcass Library has over 27,000 resources on social work, child protection and related topics).

You will also have opportunities to develop, whatever team you join, wherever you are in the country and at whatever stage you are at in your career.

Whether you join us in one of our social work roles that work directly with children and families or our corporate and business services teams who provide technology, support and expertise, you will have the chance to make a difference for children and families. You can also find out more at www.cafcass.gov.uk/careers.

Wellbeing

The wellbeing of our colleagues is something we are truly passionate about, as demonstrated by everyone having four dedicated, additional days per year when they are encouraged to spend time focusing on their health and wellbeing.

Colleagues can also have a health and wellbeing cash plan, for which Cafcass pays the basic premium (you can upgrade to include family members), which allows them to claim back some costs of routine health expenses, including dental check-ups, eye tests, physiotherapy sessions and more.

Overall, we foster a holistic approach to supporting our colleagues, benefitting physical, mental and financial health. This is led by a dedicated in-house team, the benefits of which include meaning support is targeted and specific to what colleagues need. Our team can also offer support and guidance when it comes to specific health conditions, such as neuro-diverse conditions, cancer and the menopause.

Our wellbeing offer is further strengthened by an external Employee Assistance Provider (EAP) which provides a free confidential support service 24 hours a day. This means access to clinical and professional expertise which gives you a chance to talk about all kinds of work and personal issues.

If this wasn’t enough, we are especially proud that over 125 colleagues have completed training and receive ongoing support to act as Health and Wellbeing Champions. Furthermore, we have nearly 100 people that have trained to be Mental Health Allies.

Diversity

We represent children and families from diverse backgrounds and having a diverse workforce helps us to fulfil this responsibility authentically.

It also helps us to grow, evolve and innovate, so we particularly welcome applications from individuals from diverse backgrounds as we strive to ensure our workforce reflects the diversity of the children and families we work with.

We are proud to be a disability confident leader, we invite you to join our team, we are committed to actively attract and recruit individuals with disabilities including “non-visible” disabilities and mental health conditions. Our inclusive and accessible recruitment process means we aim to accommodate reasonable adjustments as needed. This commitment highlights our dedication to employing, training, retaining, and developing the careers of our colleagues with disabilities.

Our Diversity Networks provide a safe space for colleagues with shared aspects of identity and lived experience – supported by allies across the organisation. The networks help ensure we provide an inclusive working environment and a service which promotes the diversity and uniqueness of children and families from all backgrounds.

For more information watch our video here.

Our Current Networks Include

• Ability Matters
• Colleagues with disabilities and long-term health conditions.
• Carers Network
• Colleagues with additional caring responsibilities for someone close to them who has a disability or long-term health condition.
• Faith Network
• Colleagues who are part of, or have an interest in, religious or spiritual faith communities.
• Kaleidoscope Network
• Colleagues from Black Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds.
• Mental Health Network
• Colleagues who experience, or have an interest in, Mental Health issues.
• Pride Network
• Colleagues who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans – LGBT+.
• Neurodiversity Network
• Colleagues who are neurodivergent, or support someone who is.

Together

‘Together with Children and Families’ (which we just call ‘Together’) is the name of our relationship-based practice framework. It applies to the work of every individual in Cafcass, from Social Workers to Leaders and includes our Corporate and Business Support teams.

It is at the heart of what we do and is made up of our values, how these values work in practice, the tools to use to incorporate these values in our work and the impact this will have on the children and families we serve.

This framework encourages us to be pro-active and to look for the strengths in ourselves and others. It also enables us to build positive relationships with our colleagues, our partners and most importantly, with the children and families with whom we work.

We look forward to telling helping you learn more about Together should you join us.

Benefits

We know if you join us you want to be rewarded in a variety of ways, including time away from work to spend time with those important to you, manage your financial present and future, whilst also be trusted to manage your work/life balance.

Therefore, in addition to our unique, holistic approach to supporting your health and wellbeing we also provide:

• Generous holidays
• 28 days holiday (including three for Christmas) rising to 33 days with five years continuous service, which could include your current employment. You can also sell any you do not need.
• Excellent pension
• 13.7% employer contribution to Local Government Pension scheme, potentially building on your current pension.
• Flexible working
• Most colleagues work in a hybrid way, having the benefits of working both from the office and home, we also accommodate flexible working requests (e.g. 9-day fortnights).
• Exclusive discounts
• Generous discounts with wide range of companies covering leisure, technology, travel, personal finance, fashion and supermarkets.
• Professional fees
• Social work colleagues have their annual Social Work England membership fees reimbursed.
• Car leasing schemes
• We offer a personal car leasing scheme which provides vehicles at competitive rates through a third party.

This list is just a selection of main benefits and we have a range of policies and processes that allow us to support our colleagues - and their families – and we look forward to providing you with further information about these in due course.