Cafcass (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service)
Qualified Children's Social Worker
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Children’s Social Worker Opportunities
Due to high demand for our service, we have additional opportunities for Children’s Social Workers to join our teams. You’ll work with a mixed caseload of Private and Public Law, supporting children and their families across Surrey and Sussex.
We also have opportunities in our Work To First Hearing team, which is our ‘front door’ team that helps keep children safe at the very start of private law proceedings.
We offer a Professional Joining Incentive of £4,000 for those who join our service area. More information regarding this can be found in the vacancy documents.
Children’s Social Workers in CAFCASS are referred to as Family Court Advisers and 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 (Family Court Advisors) Key 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.
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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 Public Law would be an advantage
- Organised and resilient with ability to work independently and managing workload effectively
- Ability to travel across the wider area and ideally have access to own transport.
Location
Whilst you may see these roles have contractual base in our Brighton office, our teams work flexibly and remotely. This hopefully will allow you to work in a way that suits you best.
Your proximity to the Brighton office doesn’t always have to be a critical consideration. Whilst we endeavour to allocate to your preferred area, we do expect our staff to visit children and attend court in person. To support connections, we ask that our staff attend team meetings in person monthly.
We provide the resources, equipment, and support needed, 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 are celebrating 25 years of CAFCASS and are proud of our extensive wellbeing support for colleagues (wellbeing days are offered in addition to annual leave), as well as excellent benefits, all of which we hope encourages you to work within our teams dedicated to safeguarding and protecting children.
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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
27th July 2026
Telephone interviews:
As and when candidates apply
Final Interview
10th, 11th, 13th August 2026
Vacancy Contact
upekha.welivita@cafcass.gov.uk
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!
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