Dedicated. Supportive. Unique. Join an organisation that’s just like you.

Here at Cafcass we support over 140,000 children and their families every year, safeguarding and promoting the welfare of each and every child and ensuring their voice is heard in Family Proceedings, which we’ll sure you agree is very important work.

Let’s make a difference. Together.

We are looking for a Head of Practice to cover our South West region. This role can be based from any of our offices in this service area (Bristol, Swindon, Oxford or Reading).

As a Head of Practice at Cafcass, you will draw on your considerable experience to lead and inspire those around you to ensure the delivery of high quality services and practice across Bristol, Swindon, Oxford and Reading. You will be joining an organisation rated "outstanding" by OFSTED and winner of many prestigious awards such as Social Work Employer of the Year and others around flexible working and health and wellbeing.

Should you join us you will lead on internal practice improvement as well influence local delivery partners while also working on a mix of strategic and operational matters. By ensuring Cafcass priorities, policies and plans are delivered to the highest possible standard, you and your teams will deliver positive outcomes for children and young people going through significant events including care proceedings, adoption and parental separation.

It takes someone special to be a Head of Practice

To be successful in this role you will be;

• 
  A highly effective Leader, able to influence others and lead change by providing assurance and inspiring confidence
• Someone who thrives on the responsibility of ensuring quality of practice and service delivery across the operational area is not only sustained but continually improved
• Motivated to achieve performance standards by supporting Service Managers to ensure strong, consistent performance management behaviours and processes are embedded

More detailed information is available to you in the job description for this role, which you can review prior to submitting an application. As you would expect, for such a key leadership role we have some key requirements:

• 
  Recognised Social Work qualification
• Significant post qualifying experience in a social work setting or equivalent working with children and families at a sufficient level to make an impact in this post
• Demonstrable experience of achieving positive outcomes for children through working in a family justice environment
• Evidence of professional development to support your progression into a Managerial role
• Proven experience of managing staff, services and budgets at a senior level across a wide range of functions, including supervisory and/or practice management experience

We would also like to draw your attention that this role has been identified as suiting someone who has a full driving licence. This is because of the nature of the work undertaken, the geographical area involved, and that public transport is not considered a viable alternative.

If you would like to informally find out more about this role, please contact Spencer Hird Via email or telephone - / 07771946800 and they will be happy to discuss your potential interest in this role.

Benefits that really benefit you

Should you join us, not only will you receive a competitive salary but a range of other benefits which we believe collectively makes for a market-leading offer. Further information is in the attached document as is the formal job description / person specification and other relevant information.

Due to the nature of the role, as a Head of Practice you can expect a certain amount of travel in the role but we provide you with a hybrid laptop as well as a smart phone so you can work at court, at home and from our offices. Whilst the areas you will be covering and working across are Wiltshire, Somerset, Bristol, Oxford and Reading we are able to be flexible on office location across our south west service area (Bristol, Swindon, Reading and Oxford).

To apply we have a simple application process and you can upload your current, up-to-date CV and a provide a short supporting statement.

Timelines we’re working to

If you apply, rest assured that we will review your application promptly and endeavour to let you know if we’d like to have an initial interview with you as soon as we can. If that goes well for both you and us then we’ll look to progress you to a final interview on a date and time to suit everyone.

We know how busy you are, so we’d like to give you some dates for your diary to help you understand the timescales we are working to:

• 
  Closing date - Wednesday 31st May 2023
• Telephone interviews - W/c Monday 5th June 2023
• Panel interviews - W/c Monday 12th June 2023

Please note all dates are subject to change so if you don’t hear from us, this does not automatically mean you have been unsuccessful and we will be in touch with you as quickly as we can to update you.

We look forward to hearing from you.

We welcome applicants from all backgrounds as we strive to achieve a workforce as diverse as the children and families we represent. We are also a Disability Confident Employer which further underlines our commitment to employ, train, retain and develop the careers of colleagues with disabilities.

Please be advised successful applicants will be subject to a range of pre-employment 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 policy

Finally, if you want to find out a bit more about us why should consider joining us visit https://www.cafcass.gov.uk/careers or if you wish to view all of our current vacancies, go to Current Cafcass Vacancies.