Children's Social Worker in City of London

The Vacancy

We are excited to offer a Professional Joining Incentive of £6,000 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 (professionally known within Cafcass as Family Court Advisers) to join our mixed public and private law team in London.

Further information can be found in the Job Description and Person Specification under ‘Available Documents’ above.

In this role, you will work across both private and public law proceedings

This includes supporting families to reach safe and sustainable arrangements that promote the welfare and safety of children, as well as representing children’s interests in cases where local authorities have serious concerns about a child’s safety and welfare and the court has requested Cafcass involvement.

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 Public Law would be an advantage

• Organised and resilient with ability to work independently and managing workload effectively

Why work for Cafcass?

At Cafcass, you will be supported to do your best work for children. We offer:

• Generous Paid Leave: Enjoy 28 days of annual leave (including 3 days for Christmas shutdown), rising to 33 days after 5 years of continuous service, with the unique option to sell back unused days or transfer continuous service from your current employer.
• Excellent Defined-Benefit Pension: Benefit from a highly competitive 13.7% employer contribution via the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), allowing you to seamlessly build upon your existing pension pot.
• True Hybrid & Flexible Working: Achieve an optimal work-life balance with autonomy to work from both home and the office, plus open accommodation for flexible setups like 9-day fortnights.
• Professional Fees Fully Reimbursed: Keep more of your hard-earned salary with your annual Social Work England membership fees fully covered directly by us.
• Exclusive Lifestyle Discounts: Access significant savings with a wide range of top brands covering supermarkets, fashion, travel, personal finance, and tech.
• Competitive Car Leasing: Drive away in a brand-new vehicle at highly competitive, affordable rates through our specialized third-party personal car leasing scheme.
• Opportunities to contribute to nationally significant reform in family justice
• Strong professional supervision and reflective practice

Location

Whilst these roles have a contractual base at either our Gray’s Inn Road or Croydon office, our teams work flexibly with time spent in the office with colleagues, in court and working from home. That combination of flexibility and a focus on the importance of connecting with colleagues is part of our well-being strategy. Travel is required to attend appointments, meetings and other work-related activities at locations across the service area, and colleagues should be able to do so as needed to meet the demands of the role.

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, as well as 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: 23 November 2026

Telephone interviews: We'll offer dates / times as close to when you apply as we can.

Final Interview: Once you’ve had your telephone interview, we’d hope to be able to offer dates / times quite quickly.

If you wish to speak with a member of the team for more specific information you can contact Upekha Welivita - Upekha.Welivita@Cafcass.gov.uk from our HR Resourcing team, providing your contact information and best times/methods to get hold of you. If your queries in relation to the role, you can contactLouise Whyatt Head of Practice - Louise.Jones@cafcass.gov.uk orKatrina Swain Head of Practice - Katrina.Swain@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!