Qualified Children's Social Worker - Child Focused Courts

Cafcass; Lancashire; On-site; GBP 46,000 - 50,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Joining incentive

Job summary

Cafcass is recruiting a Children's Social Worker / Family Court Adviser to work across Cumbria and Lancashire, with a base in Blackburn. The role offers a salary of £45,749 - £49,886 plus a £4,000 joining incentive, and opportunities to influence court decisions about children's safety and wellbeing.

You will conduct high‑quality assessments, engage directly with children to capture their voices, and prepare analytical reports for family court.

Qualifications

• A recognised Social Work qualification.
• To be registered with Social Work England.
• An understanding of family court processes and private and/or public law.
• Strong analytical, organisational and communication skills.
• Resilience, professional curiosity and confidence in working independently.

Responsibilities

• Conduct high-quality assessments that focus on Children's lived experience, safety and wellbeing.
• Engage directly with children, ensuring their views, wishes and feelings are understood and represented.
• Prepare clear, analytical reports for the family court, including contributions to Child Impact Reports.
• Apply robust risk assessment and mediation skills to support child-focused decision-making.
• Work effectively across private law proceedings, with a strong understanding of public law context.
• Manage your caseload independently while contributing to a supportive, learning-focused team environment.

Skills

Communication skills

Analytical skills

Independent working

Resilience

Caseload management

Education

Social Work qualification

Job description

Location: Engaging directly with children and families across Cumbria and Lancashire with a contractual base in our Blackburn Office Salary: £45,749 - £49,886 + £4,000 joining incentive (see wider benefits below)

Family justice is changing, and Cafcass is at the heart of that change. With the national rollout of Child Focused Courts, we are leading a transformation in how children's voices are heard and how decisions are made in family proceedings. Child Focused Courts place children's safety, wellbeing and lived experience at the centre of decision‑making from the very start of proceedings. This problem‑solving, less adversarial approach allows decisions to be informed earlier by a clear understanding of children's experiences, including through the preparation of Child Impact Reports.

Working within Cafcass' Child Focused Courts teams, you will;

• Undertake direct work with children and families involved in family court proceedings
• Ensure children' voices are heard clearly and influence judicial decision‑making
• Collaborate closely with judges, legal professionals and partner agencies
• Practise social work that is purposeful, evidence‑informed and values‑led

Many practitioners involved in early Child Focused Court pilots describe this way of working as professionally rewarding, aligned with core social work values, and genuinely impactful for children.

What you will do As a Children's Social Worker / Family Court Adviser / Children's Guardian you will;

• Conduct high‑quality assessments that focus on Children's lived experience, safety and wellbeing
• Engage directly with children, ensuring their views, wishes and feelings are understood and represented
• Prepare clear, analytical reports for the family court, including contributions to Child Impact Reports.
• Apply robust risk assessment and mediation skills to support child‑focused decision‑making
• Work effectively across private law proceedings, with a strong understanding of public law context
• Manage your caseload independently while contributing to a supportive, learning‑focused team environment
• A recognised Social Work qualification
• To be registered with Social Work England
• An understanding of family court processes and private and/or public law
• Strong analytical, organisational and communication skills
• Resilience, professional curiosity and confidence in working independently

In addition to this job description, we've created a factsheet providing some extra information on Child Focused Courts. Both documents - and any others we think you may want to view - are a 'vacancy document' you can access when you are on our recruitment system and available to you before you start to apply.

Benefits and resources

• The resources, equipment and flexibility needed to work effectively, connect with children and your colleagues

We offer:

• Opportunities to contribute to nationally significant reform in family justice
• Strong professional supervision and reflective practice
• Access to learning from ongoing Child Focused Court pilots and national rollout activity
• A competitive salary and Local Government pension
• Generous annual leave and wellbeing support, 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.
• These 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.

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 130,000 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.

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.

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.