Qualified Children'S Social Worker

Cafcass; Arundel; Hybrid; GBP 36,000 - 48,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Joining incentive £4,000

Job summary

Cafcass is hiring Children’s Social Workers for Private and/or Public Law Teams. You will conduct assessments, engage with children to understand their views, and represent their interests in court.

Strong risk assessment and mediation skills help advocate for the best interests of the child(ren). Applicants must have a Social Work qualification and be registered with Social Work England, with about 3 years’ experience in child and family social work; flexible/remote working arrangements

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 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.

Skills

Robust risk assessment

Mediation

Independent working

workload management

Education

Social Work qualification

Job description

We are excited to offer a Professional Joining Incentive of £4,000 for those who join one of our teams in this area. You can find out further information about this payment prior to applying for the role - check vacancy documents.

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 Brighton office, our teams work flexibly and remotely, your proximity to the office doesn’t always have to be a critical consideration, as we have office availability for our staff in Brighton, Crawley and Guildford. 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
• 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: 14th September 2026
• Telephone interviews: Week commencing from 14th September 2026
• Final Interview: Week commencing from 21th September 2026

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 related to the recruitment process and you can contact our Head of Practice Hari Michael - or Assistant Service Manager Rosie Dalrymple - if your questions relate more to the role, providing your contact information and best times / methods to get hold of you.

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.