Overview
Fostering Panel Advisor – Scott House, Huntingdon, United Kingdom
Our Benefits
We value our colleagues in Cambridgeshire County Council and have developed a number of benefits in addition to the basics like annual leave, sick pay, pension and mileage…
- A comprehensive wellbeing package to cover all aspects of wellbeing, both in and out of work, which can also be accessed by your family
- Buy up to 4 weeks additional annual leave (pro-rata) through our salary sacrifice scheme
- Take your bank holidays flexibly to better suit your personal circumstances
- Make Additional Voluntary Contributions (Shared AVCs) to your pension with tax and National Insurance savings
- Access to development opportunities, apprenticeships and qualified coaches to support your personal and professional growth
- Paid volunteering hours each year so you can make a positive impact on our community during your normal working day
- Access to Peer Support Groups through our IDEAL staff equality, diversity and inclusion network
- Opportunities to nominate and receive Employee Recognition Awards
- An Our Cambs Rewards account, giving you access to in-store and online discounts as well as our Car Lease and Cycle to Work schemes
Take a look at our Employment Benefits Brochure attached to this advert to find out more.
About the role
This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced social work professional with a passion for quality assurance, service improvement and fostering practice to make a significant impact across the organisation.
We are seeking an experienced and motivated Panel Advisor to join our Fostering Service Management Team. This is a pivotal role that combines professional leadership, quality assurance, policy development and fostering panel oversight to ensure that children and young people receive high-quality fostering services.
As the Agency Adviser to the Fostering Panel, you will provide expert guidance on fostering legislation, regulations, National Minimum Standards and best practice. You will play a key role in supporting high standards across the service, promoting continuous improvement and ensuring that children, carers and families receive effective, safe and compliant services.
This role requires close work with fostering managers, social work practitioners, panel members, senior leaders and partner agencies, to help shape service development, influence practice standards and contribute to achieving the best possible outcomes for children and young people. If this sounds like you, we’d love to hear from you.
This is a part time (18.5 hours) position worked over 3 days and hybrid with a mix of office and home working.
For more information or to chat about this opportunity please contact Ana Caldararu, Fostering Service Manager, on 07484 021 637.
Closing Date 30th July. Interviews will be held in person at Scott House in Huntingdon the towards the end of week commencing 3rd August 2026.
Appointment to this post will be subject to the outcome of an Enhanced Disclosure obtained through the Disclosure and Barring Service. The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
About you
We are looking for a qualified and experienced Social Worker with a strong understanding of fostering practice, quality assurance and safeguarding.
You will have:
- A Social Work qualification and registration with Social Work England.
- Significant post-qualifying experience in fostering, family placement or children’s services.
- Knowledge of fostering legislation, regulations and National Minimum Standards.
- Experience of quality assurance, auditing and service improvement.
- Strong communication, analytical and organisational skills.
- The confidence to provide professional challenge and promote good practice.
- The ability to build effective relationships with practitioners, managers and partners.
- The ability to work from a variety of locations and travel countywide independently
Experience of fostering panels, policy development, training or quality assurance programmes would be an advantage.
Most importantly, you will be passionate about improving outcomes for children and young people and committed to maintaining high standards across fostering services.
For a full list of the requirements of the role, please check out the Job Description & Person Specification.
Please note we are not accepting applications from candidates living overseas who require sponsorship to move to the UK.
About us
Cambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population, an urban centre in Cambridge, historic Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives as well as more rural landscapes.
We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to be reflective of this diversity, which we believe benefits our employees, the organisation and our communities.
Visit our jobs and careers section to find out more about our wide range of learning and development opportunities; apprenticeships; our wellbeing package; staff benefits; our commitment to equality, diversity and Inclusion.
http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/jobs-and-careers
IMPORTANT: Before applying for this role, please make sure you have the right to work in the country where the role is based. Unless it clearly stipulates within in the job advert above that the hiring company is looking to or able to sponsor applicants it is deemed that the hiring employer will only consider applications from those able to comply with and work in the country where the role is based.
