Fostering Reviewing Officer – Social Worker – Scott House, 5 George Street, 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
- 6 days of protected time each year to support in maintaining your Continuous Professional Development
- A relocation package (eligibility applies)
- A pay progression scheme to enable you to accelerate through the pay grade as you gain experience and skills
- ARefer a Friend Schemewhere if you refer another Social Worker to us who is subsequently employed by us as a result of that introduction, well pay you an introduction fee of 350
- Access to our Cambridgeshire Academy for Reaching Excellence (CARE) who will support your development, enabling you to become the best practitioner you can be
For more information and to see our other benefits, take a look at the benefits brochure attached to this advert.
About the role
Make a real impact on the lives of children and the carers who support them
Are you passionate about improving outcomes for children in care and ensuring foster carers receive the support and challenge they need to provide safe, nurturing homes? This role offers the chance to shape practice, influence service development, and play a key part in maintaining high standards across our fostering service.
The Fostering Reviewing Officer sits within the Quality Assurance function of the Fostering Service, championing excellent practice and ensuring that every fostering arrangement truly supports children to thrive.
This role brings independent, insightful oversightto fostering arrangements, keeping the needs, safety, and wellbeing of children firmly at the centre. Its a position for someone who isnt afraid to ask the right questions to drive better outcomes.
You will be working across the county, responsible for chairing fostering reviews that are purposeful, reflective, and focus on improving childrens lived experiences. Providing a clear, balanced evaluation, of the quality of care foster carers offer and assessing how well the fostering service is supporting placements, you will work closely with social workers, fostering teams, and partner agencies while maintaining a clear and independent, childcentred perspective.
The team is committed to continuous improvement and accountability ensuring that practice meets statutory requirements, local policies, and best practice standards. Within this environment, the Reviewing Officer plays a key role in identifying strengths, highlighting areas for development, and supporting servicewide learning.
This role makes a real difference to the organisation by helping to ensure that:
- Foster carers are appropriately supported, challenged, and developed to provide the best possible care.
- Children in care receive safe, consistent, and high-quality care.
- Practice across the fostering service is regularly reviewed and improved.
This is a hybrid role,blending home working with time at Scott House in Huntingdon and visits across the county.
If this sounds like an role that suits your skill set, we would love to hear from you! For more information, call Service Manager Ana Caldararuon 07484 021 637
Closing date Sunday 12th July, interviews will be held in the week commencing 20th July.
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 an experienced and confident Social Work professional who brings strong knowledge of fostering practice and a commitment to improving outcomes for children in care. You will hold a Social Worker qualification and be registered with Social Work England, with significant post-qualifying experience, including work within family placement or fostering services.
You will have a sound understanding of relevant legislation and regulatory frameworks, including the Children Act, Fostering Regulations, and National Minimum Standards. Alongside this, you will demonstrate in-depth knowledge of fostering policy and practice, with the ability to both support and constructively challenge professionals to promote high standards of care.
The successful candidate will be a skilled communicator, able to engage effectively with foster carers, social workers, managers, and partner agencies. You will be confident in leading meetings, managing complex discussions, and producing clear, analytical reports with balanced recommendations.
You will have experience of working within a quality assurance framework, with the ability to identify good practice, recognise areas for improvement, and contribute to service development. This includes confidently addressing concerns, making evidence-based decisions, and escalating issues appropriately where required.
Strong partnership working skills are essential, as the role involves collaboration across multidisciplinary teams and organisations. You will be able to build and maintain professional relationships while maintaining independence and objectivity in your role.
You should be organised and able to manage a varied workload, with good IT skills to support recording and report writing. While direct experience in a fostering reviewing or quality assurance role is desirable, we would also consider candidates with transferable skills, such as experience in safeguarding, child protection, or reviewing roles (e.g. Independent Reviewing Officer or Child Protection Conference Chair), who can demonstrate the ability to analyse practice and challenge constructively.
A strong commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion is essential, alongside a clear understanding of safeguarding responsibilities and a commitment to promoting the welfare and safety of children and young people in all aspects of the role.
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 usCambridgeshire 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.https://youtu.be/DDE1nplZttYVisit 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…