Service Manager

Cafcass (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service); Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 52,000 - 70,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Wellbeing support

Benefits package

Job summary

Cafcass is seeking a Service Manager to lead our Private Law / WAFH teams across the London area. The role combines strong supervisory responsibilities with direct involvement in safeguarding and child-focused decision making.

You will be registered with Social Work England, and work in a hybrid model with travel to offices in Gray’s Inn Road or Croydon as needed, including frequent office attendance.

Qualifications

• Registered with Social Work England.
• Experience in private law or Family Court Advisers duties.
• Strong understanding of safeguarding, statutory and assessment frameworks.
• Proven track record in supervision and team development.
• Ability to build and sustain cross‑agency networks.

Responsibilities

• Provide leadership and supervision within Private Law / WAFH teams.
• Support direct practice with children, gather views, and contribute to written reports for court.
• Represent children’s interests in court processes and advocate for best outcomes.
• Utilise risk assessment and mediation skills to inform decision making.

Skills

Children’s social work

Practice management

Practice educator

Networking with agencies

Leading teams through change

Job description

We are recruiting for the role of Service Manager in our Private Law / WAFH Teams covering the London area.

We trust and empower colleagues to work in a hybrid way, providing 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.

While these roles are contractually based in either our Gray’s Inn Road office or Croydon office, we support flexible working which means your proximity to the office doesn’t need to be a deciding factor, however, there will be a requirement to travel frequently for this role including regular attendance at the office.

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…

Being a Service Manager is very rewarding but as you would expect, challenging too. As well as being registered with Social Work England, you’ll be organised, resilient, empathetic, supportive and able to work independently.

In Private Law, Family Court Advisers are involved where families require the assistance of the court to agree on the best child arrangements for the child(ren) involved. Family Court Advisers are typically involved with children for a period of assessment for the court, undertaking direct work with children, gaining their views and wishes and representing these to the court via written reports and giving evidence and advocating for arrangements that are in their best interests. This will draw on robust risk assessment and mediation skills.

… And What We’re Looking For.

We also think you for you to succeed and truly make a difference you should be someone who has;

• Expert knowledge of children’s social work, including safeguarding, statutory and assessment frameworks
• A track record of highly effective practice management or supervisory experience
• Demonstrable experience of being a practice educator with the skills to continuously monitor, manage, develop and improve team and individual performance
• Proven ability to establish strong and effective networks with other agencies.
• Experience of leading individuals and teams through change

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 poli