Childcare Advocate

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council; Catcliffe; On-site; GBP 53,000 - 56,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Local Government Pension Scheme

Health and wellbeing benefits

Job summary

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council is seeking an experienced childcare advocate to join our Legal Team in the Corporate Services directorate. The role requires a minimum of 7 years post-qualification experience and Higher Rights of Audience (or willingness to work towards it) to represent the LA at hearings and High Court applications.

You will carry a mixed caseload, provide supervisory and training support within the team, and work to deliver better outcomes for children and families in

Qualifications

• Minimum 7 years PQE in childcare law.
• Higher Rights of Audience or willingness to work towards it.
• Experience working in a local authority setting.

Responsibilities

• Advocate in contested hearings and High Court applications.
• Manage a portfolio of complex childcare cases.
• Supervise and train junior staff within the team.
• Support colleagues by taking instructions from the team.

Skills

Communication

Teamwork

Relationship building

Initiative

Education

Higher Rights of Audience

Job description

Location: Main St, Rotherham S60 1AE, UK Salary: 53,051 - 56,293 per year Employment: Full time Category: Child Care Lawyer Posted: 2026-09-29 Valid to: 2026-11-02 Directorate: Corporate Services Permanent, Full time, 37 hours per week

Are you a forward thinking, proactive and dynamic legal professional looking for a challenging opportunity? Do you have successful relevant experience of working in a local authority setting?

About the role

We are looking for an in Childcare Advocate for our childcare team to make a difference to the lives of the people of Rotherham. Now is the time to join our committed and forward-thinking Legal Team at Rotherham Borough Council. Building on the success of our current team, we are seeking motivated, committed and driven individuals to work with us. The role requires a minimum of 7 years PQE and the Higher Rights of Audience qualification (or a willingness to work towards the qualification, in view of the need to attend contested hearings and High Court applications. The Advocate will hold a few complex cases with the focus of accepting instructions from members of the team who would otherwise instruct Counsel to represent the LA in hearings. In addition, there will be an expectation that the Advocate will carry out a supervisory/training role within the team and the client department.

Are you looking for a job which provides a work life balance along with a wide and varied workload, is rewarding, challenging and gives you the satisfaction of knowing your intervention will bring better outcomes for the residents of Rotherham? This is an exciting new role for the childcare team and for the shaping of the team in the future.

About you

It is important that you have excellent communication, teamwork and relationship building skills. In this role you will need to use your initiative, be flexible and driven to deliver an excellent high-quality service; demonstrating a real commitment the role and the Legal Services Team. You need to hold the relevant qualifications to apply for this position and have the relevant Post Qualification experience.

About us

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council has made rapid and significant progress on its improvement journey, which is clearly demonstrated by the expedited return of our powers in September 2018. This is testament to the hard work and commitment of the council's employees and new Senior Leadership Team. This announcement comes on the back of our "Good" Ofsted report for children's services earlier in the year. That our Children's Services have been transformed has been a critical indicator of the changes that we have made.

This is an excellent time to join Rotherham which has the fastest growing economy in Yorkshire. We are delivering major regeneration and housing as well as creating new jobs and opportunities for our residents. Rotherham is a real 'central UK' location with excellent road and rail links and is ideally placed near the scenic countryside of the Peak District, whilst also being conveniently located next to the vibrant city of Sheffield.

We offer an excellent pay and benefits package which includes membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme, as well as a range of health and wellbeing and other benefits. This makes working for us an attractive proposition. If you have the ambition to make a real difference and are committed to delivering an excellent legal service we would welcome your application.

For informal enquiries, please contact Glenda Ashman (Interim Service Manager) at #####

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council is committed to encouraging equality, diversity and inclusion among our workforce, and eliminating unlawful discrimination. The aim is for our workforce to be truly representative of all sections of society and our customers, and for each employee to feel respected and able to give their best. As a Disability Confident employer, we will ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that meet the minimum criteria for this position will be offered an interview. For further information, please visit our website.