Head of Practice in Portsmouth

We are recruiting for a Head of Practice to be part of our senior leadership team covering the Hampshire & Dorset area. If you join us, working closely with the Assistant Director, you will play a pivotal role in helping fulfil our strategic ambition for children where Cafcass is involved - exceptional experiences, for every child, everywhere and every time.

As a Head of Practice, you will draw on your considerable professional Social Work experience to lead and inspire those around you to ensure the delivery of high-quality services and practice. You will set high standards and combine this with high levels of support so the Service Managers you line manage can create the conditions for our Family Court Advisers, who engage directly with children and families, to deliver exceptional experiences. Reporting directly to an Assistant Director – who will typically have leadership responsibility for 2-3 service areas – you will lead on internal practice improvement and 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.

What we’re looking for: We are looking for someone who can demonstrate their experience and capability as a highly effective Leader who guides, influences and inspires others to consistently fulfil their responsibilities and to identify individual and collective opportunities for professional improvement. You will also thrive on the responsibility of ensuring quality of practice and service delivery across the operational area is not only sustained but continually improved. You will be motivated to achieve performance standards by supporting Service Managers to ensure strong, consistent performance management behaviours and processes are embedded.

The office(s) within this operational service area are Bournemouth and Portsmouth and we would expect you as a Senior Leader to have a presence not only for formal meetings but also generally model the importance of staff using office spaces to connect and collaborate. Therefore, while you don't necessarily need to live in close proximity to the office(s) this may be something for you to consider.

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.

Next steps / timelines: If and when you are ready to apply, our application process is straightforward and quick to complete. You don’t need to complete your application in one visit, you can start it and come back to amend your responses or update your CV. Just make sure you come back before the closing date to submit.

Closing date: 13th July 2026 Initial Interview: TBC Final Interview: week commencing 3rd August 2026

We understand that starting a new role is a big decision, and you may require further information before applying. The Hiring Manager for this role is Michael Kemp and if you want to contact them to arrange an informal conversation, please contact them via email - Michael.kemp@cafcass.gov.uk - providing your contact details and best times to contact you.