About Us

Cafcass (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) is the voice of children in the family courts and helps to ensure that children’s welfare is put first during proceedings. Established in 2001, we are a non-departmental public body, helping over 115,000 children and young people a year who are going through care or adoption proceedings, or whose parents have separated and are unable to agree about future arrangements for their children. We are independent of the courts, social services, education and health authorities and all similar agencies. In February 2014 our inspection body Ofsted found that the quality and effectiveness of Cafcass work with children and families in both private law (arrangements for children) and public law (care and adoption) was Good, with Outstanding national leadership of the organisation. We operate within the law set by Parliament and under the rules and directions of the family courts. Our role is to: •safeguard and promote the welfare of children •give advice to the family courts •make provision for children to be represented •provide information, advice and support to children and their families. Here at Cafcass we support over 140,000 children and their families every year, safeguarding 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. Whether you’re one of our Social Workers or work in our Business Services teams then everyone as a critical role to play. And so, if you join us you’ll see further references to ‘Together’ as this is the name of our new relationship-based practice framework. Built around our values, it is at the heart of the work we do and encourages us to be pro-active and to look for the strengths in ourselves and others, to build positive relationships with our colleagues, our partners and with the children and families that we work with. So, hopefully you're getting a sense that it isn’t just our talented, experienced Social Workers who have a key role to play in supporting some of the most vulnerable children in our society. Behind them are highly organised and effective Business Services teams, of which a Business Services Officer is an integral component. But before we tell you about the role, let us tell us about some of the other reasons you should consider joining us. Benefits that really benefit you. We know you want to be rewarded appropriately, you want time away from work to manage your wellbeing, spend time with those important to you, help to secure your future and be trusted to work autonomously. So, on top of a competitive salary, you’ll have an excellent holiday allowance (28 days + Bank Holidays), a Local Government pension with 19.4% employer contribution, Health and Wellbeing cash plan and the potential to bring your continuous service with you - which could mean you have 33 days holiday from day one - and a wide range of other benefits that collectively makes for a great package with a highly supportive employer. Location, location, location Our team is based from our office in either Portsmouth, Bournemouth, Bristol or Exeter and so while we are currently working very much in a hybrid way – mix of working at home and in the office – you will need to able to travel to/from the office certainly some days per week and with the potential for that to increase in the fullness of time.