Improvement Manager (Social Work)

We are recruiting for the role of Improvement Manager within the National Improvement Service (NIS). The NIS focuses on supporting quality assurance and improvement in social work practice across Public and Private Law proceedings to help Cafcass provide an exceptional experience to children and young people. As an Improvement Manager, you will play a key role in shaping practice across Cafcass nationally. Your work will directly influence how we support practitioners, improve outcomes for children and families, and embed a culture of continuous learning and development. The role of an Improvement Manager often includes development and delivery of training, quality assurance and auditing, commissioned and targeted support and undertaking significant incident response reporting both internal and external submissions. This role is part of a team that works flexibly and remotely therefore your location isn't a critical consideration. However, there will be a requirement to travel to attend in person team meetings, development days and in-person training delivery. An exciting and innovative part of the improvement role may also require targeted improvement work alongside operational colleagues; this may mean periods of time working alongside managers in operational areas supporting and developing aspects of specific improvement. 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. 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… The Improvement Manager will lead and support quality assurance and improvement activity across Cafcass, using data, audit findings, learning, feedback and practice expertise to drive high-quality services for children and families. Working closely with operational managers and leaders, you will help identify strengths, address areas for development, and support the implementation of evidence-informed practice improvements. … and who we're looking for. For you to succeed and truly make a difference you should be someone who has strong interpersonal skills, with the confidence to provide constructive challenge, facilitate reflective learning discussions, and support leaders to use evidence and learning to improve practice., We were established by section 11 of the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 (the Act) and operate in accordance with the law set by Parliament and under the rules and directions of the family courts. Our principal functions, as set out in section 12 of the Act, relate to family proceedings where the welfare of children who are subject to family proceedings is or may be in question, are to:

• Safeguard and promote the welfare of children;
• Give advice to the family courts;
• Make provision for children to be represented; and
• Provide information, advice and support to children and their families.
What we do - the role of Cafcass We were established by section 11 of the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 (the Act) and operate in accordance with the law set by Parliament and under the rules and directions of the family courts. Our principal functions, as set out in section 12 of the Act, relate to family proceedings where the welfare of children who are subject to family proceedings is or may be in question, are to:
• Safeguard and promote the welfare of children;
• Give advice to the family courts;
• Make provision for children to be represented; and
• Provide information, advice and support to children and their families.
  
  Social Work qualification
• Registration with Social Work England.
• Track record of developing systems to improve practice for children.
• Quality assurance/ audit experience.
• Previous experience of training development and delivery.
Desirable criteria:
• You'll ideally have a minimum of 3 years' experience working with children and families
• Demonstrable skills to continuously monitor, manage, develop and improve team and individual performance
• Experience of writing and reviewing work related to significant incidents.
Next steps/timelines

We represent the interests of children and young people in the family court. We independently advise the family courts about what is safe for children and in their best interests. We focus on their needs, wishes and feelings, making sure that children's voices are heard and are at the heart of the family court's thinking and decision making. For every child, whose current and future living arrangements are decided by the courts, we seek to provide an exceptional experience, everywhere, and every time. In this section of our website, you can find out more about us and the work we do.