Assistant Service Manager - Nottingham and Derby - Public and Private Law

We are recruiting for the role of Assistant Service Manager in our team covering Nottingham and Derby.

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.

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.

Whilst this role is part of a team based from either our office in Nottingham or Derby, 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 an Assistant Service Manager is very rewarding but as you would expect, challenging too. You will manage a team of Family Court Advisers and have a good understanding of what good looks like in Public and Private law cases.

Through your own practice and reflective/case supervision of colleagues, you will consistently reflect and champion the values and core practice of our practice framework, 'Together with Children and Families'.

As an Assistant Service Manager, it is your duty to safeguard and protect the welfare of children, and the support you provide to colleagues to achieve the same standards of safeguarding practice.

Providing high-quality reflective case supervision, you will be accountable for your own practice and for the quality and impact of the practice quality standards of the Family Court Advisers you directly manage., Our Family Court Advisers (FCAs) - which is what we call our Social Workers - may be asked by the court to work with families and then advise the court on what we consider to be the best interests of the children involved in three main areas:

• divorce and separation, sometimes called 'private law', where parents or carers cannot agree on arrangements for their children;


• care proceedings, sometimes called 'public law', where social services have serious concerns about the safety or welfare of a child; and


• adoption, which can be either public or private law.


How we support and reward

In addition to one-to-one and group supervision, you will have access to a range of practice resources, including the Cafcass Library, National Psychology Service, Practice Experts and our Emerging Talent Programme.

We also ensure you have outstanding technology, including modern touchscreen laptops, an iPhone and our excellent case management system, ChildFirst, along with first class support teams, including in-house IT Trainers.

We also 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 financial present and future and be trusted to work creatively, using your professional judgement. You also want opportunities for professional development, alongside the support and supervision you need to practice safely.

As well as being registered with Social Work England, you'll be organised, resilient, and have some experience of supervising, coaching, or mentoring social workers.

You will promote resilience and wellbeing at work, maintaining morale and be confident in managing employees with a wide range of professional experience.

You will be a good communicator both orally and in writing, with emotional intelligence, at all levels and especially when interacting with children.

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. In short, our role is to…

If our purpose resonates with you, then if you join us you will work alongside like-minded people in a diverse, inclusive and supportive organisation. You will also have opportunities to develop, whatever team you join, wherever you are in the country and at whatever stage you are at in your career.

We represent children and families from diverse backgrounds and our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion is integral to our work. It's central to the values of our organisation; not only do we understand the needs of the children and families we work with, but we're open to all who wish to grow a career with us.

Whether you join us in one of our social work roles that work directly with children and families or our corporate and business services teams who provide technology, support and expertise, you will have the chance to make a difference for children and families., Everyone at Cafcass has four dedicated, additional days per year where they are encouraged to spend time focusing on their health and wellbeing. This is part of a holistic approach with the goal of supporting everyone who works at Cafcass to maximise their capabilities to make lasting and positive differences to the lives of the children and families with whom they work.

Led by our in-house Health and Wellbeing team, we also offer support that benefits physical, mental and financial health. Our team can also offer support and guidance when it comes to specific health conditions, such as neuro-diverse conditions, cancer and the menopause.

Our team is strengthened by the availability of an external Employee Assistance Provider (EAP) which provides a free confidential support service 24 hours a day. This means access to clinical and professional expertise which gives you a chance to talk about all kinds of work and personal issues.

We are especially proud that over 125 colleagues across the organisation have completed training and receive ongoing support to act as Health and Wellbeing Champions for their teams. Furthermore, we have nearly 100 people that have been trained to act as Mental Health Allies.

This video also gives you a bit more insight into our Health and Wellbeing offer.


• 28 days holiday (including three for Christmas) rising to 33 days with five years continuous service, which could include your current employment. You can also buy more holiday or sell any you do not need.


• Flexible working, including nine-day fortnights.


• 19.4% employer contribution to Local Government Pension scheme, potentially building on your current pension.


• Health and Wellbeing cash plan with your basic premium paid for, which can be upgraded to include family members.


• Social Work England membership fees reimbursed.


• Car leasing schemes