social worker

service manager

business services officer

business administrator

customer service representative

Cafcass

My typical day at work which is on Business Support.

Open up the office if I am first in.

Sign in & log on to my computer.

Open post (Royal Mail & DX).

Process the post received, scan in documents & upload to computer.

I process Court Orders that come in from the local Courts & input any data from these onto the system.

Deal with personal & generic e-mails through the course of the day which can come in from the Courts, Service Users & Solicitors.

I format reports & letters that need to be issued.

I deal with Forward Projection Reports & Data Validation Reports on a weekly basis.

Update the whiteboard (staff whereabouts) through course of the day.

I deal with telephone calls & am also a receptionist dealing with service users & any general office callers from the gas man to the confidential waste man.

I am in control of the office DX system for incoming & outgoing post & ensuring things are kept up to date.

I am also in control of the archiving & storage systems with TNT.

I deal with the outgoing post & ensure that it gets delivered at the end of each day.

I deal with the ordering of the office stationary.

My work is always prioritised & always of a high standard. I do not like to have nothing to do & will always find something to do if the work is slow even if it means cleaning out the cupboards.

My day can be varied depending on meetings & staff training.

I work on the Business Support in Doncaster where we have 4 team players. We help & support each other wherever needed & our work is of a high standard & up to date on a daily basis.
We can chat as we work & have a cuppa whenever we wish (although I do restrict this to one in a morning & one in an afternoon). Our office is generally relaxed & it does help when you all get on with each other. I have only been at this office for 3 years & we are all like one big family. I believe that when you spend most of your time at work you need to be in a happy environment to be productive.

Since working for Cafcass I have learned a lot of new computer skills & systems &  'safeguarding' to do with the children that we are involved with.

Our social life at work usually revolves around special occasions such as birthdays & Christmas although it has been known for us all to go to the bingo just for a laugh.

I love my job & can't say that anything about my role is hard.

If it wasn't for my office re-locating to Sheffield I would definitely be staying on but unfortunately I live 10 miles the north of Doncaster which does not make it convenient for travel especially as the Sheffield office is not central. I do drive a car but it may be that I do not have a car for use 100% of the time.

I am obviously looking for a job central to Doncaster which would allow for travel on the bus if needed.

The job of a family court advisor/ children's Guardian is a very pressured but privileged role. Anyone thinking of joining cafcass needs to be aware that it is not the easy job other social work colleagues might think it is. There are not enough hours in the week to complete the work that you are allocated and as a result social workers end up working well beyond their contracted hours for which they are not paid. It is possible to take back the time but given the heavy workload that is often impossible. However the the work environment is much better than a local authority and you are valued and respected by managers and the courts as long as you are good at your job. It is not an easy job to secure and you are expected to be the best of the best, quite rightly so given the responsibility on you to be the eyes and ears of the court where children are concerned.

New social work staff will be  supported to be successful in their role but there  is a  responsibility on social workers to do a lot of self directed learning. Work is heavily scrutinized during the first year which can be difficult for some people to accept. It is necessary for growth and progression and is never a punitive exercise. There are good health and wellbeing benefits available which are part of the pay package but there are options to increase the level of health insurance that is available to staff. There are flexible working arrangements  but it can be a lonely and isolating job and the responsibility is often  on the individual to reach out to colleagues.
Overall as a member of staff I feel I've been well supported and looked after but it is no surprise that most social workers working for cafcass are very tired! For the type of work that is required, pay is quite poor. That really does need to change. However, I would rather have less pay than a really unpleasant working environment. 

A lot of travel, a lot of time in Court and mostly writing up visits, analyses/reports, doing admin.
Hardest part of job is workload/reporting timescales. Found it impossible to take time off in lieu for regular hours over 37 contracted (often 15/week). Felt impossible to take leave without there being huge amount of stress.
Training provided too little, too late which set things up badly from the start. Most of the e-learning is interesting and well structured but not helpful for practical doing the job. Trying to fit in training while working was very hard. Would have been so much better to have a solid month of induction and training before being allocated case work and I would push for this if you decide to take a job there, and resist case work unless you are co-working or shadowing. Having 15 cases with the first six weeks felt too much and likely contributes to high turnover of staff.
Managers are kind and supportive but within constraints of the organisation structure, unfilled posts mean the work load is high.
I felt under pressure not to fail children as their safety is the primary part of the role.
Ending my SW career here feeling unwell and sad after 30 years work with children and families, 10 in social work.


Cafcass culture has changed. The organisation advertises itself as supporting social worker autonomy but it has gone down the path of micromanagement and requiring staff to repeatedly tick boxes for no obvious reason. Salaries are far less competitive than they used to be, with managers making comments such as ‘no-one comes into social work for the pay’. Working in excess of contracted hours is the norm and an expectation eg 4 hour round journeys on top of a day in court. Staff are also expected to present a positive image of the role and help to recruit other social workers.  New staff complain about a poor induction process, existing staff are expected to complete essential training in their own time ( albeit with an overtime payment). The best support comes from colleagues but most people work from home ( offices have been closed) so you may never meet them in person. A manager can make or break the team in a way that I’ve never seen in social work in before. The technology is good (iPhone/ decent laptop but you need to provide your own screen). 33 days holidays a year after 5 years, but you will need every one of those days to prevent burn out and exhaustion. 

You end up working in your holidays and at the weekends, just to keep on top of everything, and it will still never be enough. You will get thanks from the judiciary and lawyers you work with and some of the families you help, but the organisation Cafcass will find fault in your performance and will disregard external positive opinions about your work.
If you don't get on with a particular manager, all the other managers will know and they will shun you if you ever seek their advice on any work related matters. They will regard you as undermining the manager you do not get on, and it therefore makes a mockery of the organisation saying, 'You can go to any manager', you can't. 

on arrival at work, I access private law applications with relations to the safeguarding of children during proceedings.
since I have been at Cafcass I have learnt a great deal about Family Law, and how Cafcass as an organisation effectively work to better the lives of vulnerable children. The members of my team all understand what reliability, punctually and effective work has done for us as a team and we strive for 100 per cent productivity each month. The hardest part of the job has to be dealing with cases here a child has been a victim and or witness of violence.
The most enjoyable part of the job is knowing that for each case you process correctly  an application is one step closer to being completed.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Working with the guardians I was assigned to. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The deadlines we had to meet regarding the reports.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
It has a family environment about it. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Answering the phone both internally and externally, dealing with the public when coming for meetings, helping to complete and send out the guardians reports when having to meet deadlines, dealing with internal and external post, making tea and coffee for the public and staff for meetings and dealing with stock taking duties.

What is the best part of working at the company?
It was brilliant working at Cafcass. There was excellent teamwork in a great working environment.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
At the time, we had to work from home, and I only had one day in the week to work at the office. So I never got to meet everybody physically or at the same time.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
It's friendly and business like

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
It was business as usual though no two days were the same.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The team and some of the family court advisors. There was some nice people there that made it easier to work there. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The managers and just overall workload. You don’t get paid enough for how much you do . 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The environment was Friendly at times but kind of Toxic. Too much gossip

What is the best part of working at the company?
managers do not adhere to policies re communicating with staff, staff wellbeing compromised, staff care is poor. In my opinion.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
expectations of managers, court system, workload unmanageable

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
in my opinion,  controlling and potentially towards coercive

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Social worker 125 salaries reported	£47,262 per year
Service manager 31 salaries reported	£54,582 per year
Business services officer 30 salaries reported	£27,005 per year
Business administrator 2 salaries reported	£21,899 per year
Customer service representative 5 salaries reported	£29,091 per year

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