Matching Lead

Salary Range: £33,000 – £42,000 depending on qualifications and experience

Starting: April / May 2026

Lika is a dynamic, values-led and therapeutically minded organisation, inviting the right candidate to learn, grow and contribute as part of a committed professional team. Based in Clapham Junction, London, we support foster carers and the children they care for across London and the North West. Lika is rated Outstanding by Ofsted. Lika Family Fostering recruits, trains and supports foster carers for children in Local Authority care. Our approach is grounded in systemic family therapy and therapeutic fostering principles, supporting carers to remain resilient, reflective and emotionally available, and to build secure, meaningful relationships around each child.

Matching children with the right foster families is central to positive outcomes. Thoughtful matching supports children to feel safe, valued and able to thrive, while strengthening placement stability and long-term wellbeing. This is achieved through rigorous recruitment, assessment, approval, matching and ongoing support of foster carers, ensuring placements are safe, stable and responsive to each child’s needs.

Purpose: Lika is seeking a Matching Lead to play a central role in shaping high-quality foster placements and supporting the continued growth of a values-led, relational fostering agency. We welcome applicants from a wide range of professional backgrounds and value transferable skills; however, ideally candidates will be qualified social workers with experience within fostering or social care. While this role does not involve direct work with children, it sits at the heart of the system around them — working closely with Local Authorities, social workers and partner agencies to build strong, trusted relationships that enable thoughtful, well-supported matching decisions. This role suits someone who is curious, motivated to learn, and able to hold complexity and pace with confidence, even when working remotely. You will be supported by an experienced, therapeutically trained team, alongside a comprehensive induction and ongoing development opportunities.

You will lead on matching available foster carers with children referred from across London and the wider UK, developing a deep understanding of carers’ strengths, capacity and support needs. This role offers meaningful responsibility alongside flexibility and balance, with primarily home-based working and attending the office in Clapham Junction every Tuesday.

Duties:

• Build warm, responsive and professional relationships with Local Authorities referring children and young people to Lika, responding in a timely and thoughtful way through email, telephone and virtual meetings.
• Gather rich information from a child’s wider network (e.g. social workers, schools, foster carers, CAMHS) to develop a relational understanding of need, risk, strengths and support requirements. This informs collaborative matching decisions, support planning and costing alongside Lika’s management team.
• Maintain ongoing, trusting relationships with foster carers and their supervising social workers to understand carers’ availability, capacity, strengths, vulnerabilities and areas of growth.
• Proactively share information with Local Authorities about available foster carers, nurturing transparent, respectful partnerships that build confidence and long-term collaboration.
• Keep foster carer profiles live and meaningful, reflecting carers’ evolving skills, experiences and learning rather than static descriptions.
• Negotiate care packages for young people matched to Lika from the local authority.
• During times when there may be quieter periods in the service, opportunities will be available to assist the wider team with compliance, checks and other regulatory functions within the agency.

Support:

• Engage in four-weekly reflective supervision with the Registered Manager or Director to support learning, curiosity, emotional wellbeing and development of matching practice.
• Participate in fortnightly team meetings as a space for shared thinking, connection, learning and mutual support.
• Engage in ongoing training and specialist therapeutic development to strengthen relational practice and confidence.
• Hold responsibility for working safely and ethically within legislative requirements, data protection and organisational policies, understanding these as frameworks that support good care and safe relationships.

Experience & Qualifications:

• You will have experience of working in multidisciplinary teams specific to social care or education settings.
• You will have experience of working in fast-paced environments with risk management and decision-making part of your role.
• Ideally you would be a qualified social worker who is registered with Social Work England.
• You will have experience of working with foster carers and looked after young people. This is desirable, but not essential.
• You will have experience of working virtually and connecting to a team remotely.
• You will need to complete an Enhanced DBS criminal record check.
• You will need to disclose any criminal or spent convictions as part of the application process.

Knowledge:

• You will have an understanding of the Fostering Regulations and National Minimum Standards. This is desirable, but not essential.
• You will have an understanding of the Children Act 1989 and the relevant laws / regulations underpinning fostering. This is desirable, but not essential.
• You will have knowledge of how decisions are made about why young people become known to Local Authorities and become looked after. This is desirable, but not essential.
• You will have an understanding of how young people are matched, and risk assessed to live in foster placements. This is desirable, but not essential.
• You will have an understanding of the types of fostering placements and how these influence matching decisions. This is desirable, but not essential.
• You will have sound knowledge in understanding of Dropbox, Outlook, Zoom and MS Teams.

Abilities:

• You will have excellent interpersonal and listening skills with a range of professionals connected to the agency.
• You will have the ability to communicate well and clearly both orally and in writing.
• You will create and maintain professional relationships with external agencies that rely on a fast and efficient service from the agency.
• You will have the ability to process and analyse information quickly which is limited and sometimes distressing to read.
• You will have the ability to undertake balanced risk assessments connected to both children’s safety and wellbeing and as well as the foster carer.
• You will have the ability to identify and think laterally to mitigate risk and to communicate this clearly to the professional network.
• Uphold confidentiality with integrity, recognising the trust placed in the organisation by children, families, carers and professionals.
• Prioritise safeguarding as a shared responsibility, raising concerns early and collaboratively to ensure children’s welfare remains central.
• You will have a desire to create safe opportunities for looked after young people to thrive in fostering families.
• You will have a commitment to ensure that looked after young people deserve thoughtful and thorough matching to foster carers.
• You will enjoy being part of a small, therapeutically minded and fast-paced team.
• You will be passionate about creating safe and nurturing homes for looked after young people.
• You will value diversity in relation to issues of ethnicity, religion, gender, disability, and sexual orientation.
• You will have an understanding of and a commitment to the need for confidentiality.
• You will have a willingness to increase knowledge and understanding of issues through reading, discussion, and supervision.

Pay: £33,000.00-£42,000.00 per year depending on experience and qualifications

Annual Leave: 28 days, increasing to 30 days after two years with the agency.

Flexible Work Environment: Primarily home-based, with 1 day per week (Tuesdays) at the Lika office in Clapham for collaborative team sessions.

Performance Incentives: Eligibility for performance-based bonuses

Professional Development: Access to therapeutic training opportunities for ongoing growth.