Job Description

We are recruiting for an Assistant Service Manager to join the Work to First Hearing team. This role covers Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, and Coventry, with attendance at court in the Coventry and Wellingborough areas. The position is fixed-term until 31 March 2026, with the possibility of extension.



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 our office in Coventry

,

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.



The advertised salary reflects our 2024/25 pay award. We are awaiting confirmation of our 2025/26 when salaries will be updated to reflect this.

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.

... and what we're looking for.

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.

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 a single visit, you can start it and come back and amend your responses / update your CV, just make sure you come back before the closing date to submit.



Below we have given you an indication of a timetable we are hoping to work towards, although dates are subject to change.



Closing date:



11th January 2026



Initial Interview:



14thJanuary 2026



Final Interview:



21st January 2026



We understand you may benefit from finding out more to help you decide to apply. There is a lot of information available at

Cafcass Careers

but if there is something else you need to find out more about, you can either

Michelle Berrridge -

Michelle.Berridge@cafcass.gov.ukfrom our HR Resourcing team if your query is to do with the recruitment process or is HR-related, or

Laura Swain -

Laura.Swain@cafcass.gov.uk 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

offer and pre-employment checks

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

DBS code of practice

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

Cafcass DBS policy

.


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...