Qualified Children'S Social Worker

Cafcass; Ambergate; Remote; GBP 34,000 - 52,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Wellbeing support

Excellent benefits

Job summary

Cafcass in the United Kingdom is hiring Children’s Social Workers for Private and/or Public Law teams. You will conduct assessments, directly engage with children, and represent their views to the family court, helping to shape welfare arrangements.

You will use robust risk assessment and mediation to prioritise the child’s best interests. Applicants must have a social work qualification, be registered with Social Work England, and about 3 years’ experience, with flexible remote working and

Qualifications

• Relevant Social Work qualification is essential.
• You must be registered with Social Work England regulator.
• You’ll ideally have a minimum of 3 years’ experience working with children and families in a social work capacity.
• Experience in Family Court proceedings and understanding of Private and/or Public Law would be an advantage.
• Organised and resilient with ability to work independently and managing workload effectively.

Responsibilities

• Conducting assessments and directly engaging with children to understand and represent their views to the court.
• Using expertise in robust risk assessment and mediation to advocate for arrangements that prioritise the best interest of the children.

Skills

Direct engagement with children

Risk assessment

Mediation

Independent working

Workload management

Education

Social Work qualification

Job description

We are hiring Children’s Social Workers for our Private and/or Public Law teams.

Working in the Private and/or Public Law teams, Children’s Social Workers (or as we will professionally call you - Family Court Advisers) are involved in a combination of cases where either the families require the assistance to agree on the best arrangements for the welfare and safety of the child(ren) involved or the local authority has serious concerns and requests the involvement of Cafcass in the case.

Children’s Social Workers key responsibilities include:

• Conducting assessments and directly engaging with children to understand and represent their views and wishes to the court.
• Using expertise in robust risk assessment and mediation will be essential as you advocate for arrangements that prioritise the best interest of the children.

Who we’re looking for

• Relevant Social Work qualification is essential
• You must be registered with Social Work England regulator
• You’ll ideally have a minimum of 3 years’ experience working with children and families in a social work capacity
• Experience in Family Court proceedings and understanding of Private and/or Public Law would be an advantage
• Organised and resilient with ability to work independently and managing workload effectively

Location

Whilst you may see these roles have contractual base in our Derby office, our teams work flexibly and remotely, your proximity to the office doesn’t always have to be a critical consideration. This hopefully will allow you to work in a way that suits you best.

We provide 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 provide extensive wellbeing support for colleagues, as well as excellent benefits, all of which we hope encourages you to work within our dedicated team.

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: 12th October 2026
• Telephone interviews: We'll offer dates / times as close to when you apply as we can.
• Final Interview: Once you’ve have had your telephone interview, we’d hope to be able to offer dates / times quite quickly.

If you wish to speak with a member of the team for more specific information you can either contact Upekha Welivita - from our HR Resourcing team if your query is HR related or to do with the recruitment process, or Senior Service Manager Alison Wakefield - if your questions relate more to the role, providing your contact information and best times / methods to get hold of you.

In anticipation of your successful application, we encourage you to review our offer and pre-employment checks process. You are welcome to raise any questions or concerns about these checks during your application, with the assurance that this information will remain confidential.

Successful applicants will undergo various pre-engagement checks, including a Disclosure and Barring Service check (DBS). In line with the DBS code of practice and our policy, if a criminal offence is declared, an individual assessment will be conducted. For further details regarding this assessment, please refer to the Cafcass DBS policy.

We look forward to receiving your application!