Service Manager - Essex and Suffolk

We are recruiting for the role of Service Manager in our Public and Private Law, Work After First Hearing Team covering Essex and Suffolk areas.

While we are proud that Ofsted judged us to be ‘outstanding’ when they inspected us in early 2024, we haven’t come this far only to come this far. This outcome has energised us to just keep getting better at what we do for children and families.

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.

Whilst this role is part of a team based from any of our office in Chelmsford or Norwich, our teams work flexibly and remotely, your proximity to the office doesn’t always have to be a critical consideration.

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 Work After First Hearing teams, Family Court Advisers – which is what we call our Social Workers – typically have a mixed Public and Private Law caseload. In Public Law this will include them telling the court about the child’s journey and experiences and explain their wishes and feelings, while also carrying out independent enquiries, scrutinising the work of the Local Authority and representing the child in court, alongside their appointed solicitor.

… 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, If you wish to speak with a member of the team for more specific information you can either contact Narinder Kaur at from our HR Resourcing team if your query is HR related or to do with the recruitment process, or Kirsteen Narramore at if your questions relate more to the role, providing your contact information and best times / methods to get hold of you.

Whilst we will always try and respond a.s.a.p. we wouldn’t want you to miss the closing date before we are able to. If this is the case, we recommend you apply and as part of your application you can ask questions, and this may allow us to contact you and provide you with the required information that will help you decide if you still wish to be considered.

Finally, in anticipation of your application being successful, you might want to read about the process. As part of your application you can highlight any concerns or questions about the pre-employment checks and we encourage all applicants to do so, safe in the knowledge such information will not be shared with individuals involved in the selection process.

We look forward to hearing from you.

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 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 .

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 140,0000 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.

• 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

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.