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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.

What will you be doing?

You will lead and coordinate the fostering panel process, ensuring all panels operate effectively, professionally and in compliance with fostering legislation and statutory guidance.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Acting as Agency Adviser to the Fostering Panel, providing expert advice on fostering regulations, policy, practice and decision-making.
• Leading the organisation and management of the fostering panel schedule, ensuring panels are appropriately planned, quorate and compliant.
• Overseeing the quality assurance of reports and assessments presented to panel, providing constructive challenge and feedback to practitioners and managers.
• Promoting excellent fostering practice across the service and escalating concerns where standards are not being met.
• Developing, reviewing and implementing fostering policies, procedures and practice standards in line with national guidance and legislation.
• Leading on quality assurance systems, audit activity and performance monitoring to drive continuous improvement across the service.
• Producing detailed reports, analysing data and identifying themes, trends and opportunities for service development.
• Supporting the recruitment, induction, training, appraisal and ongoing development of panel members.
• Working collaboratively with internal and external partners to ensure services remain responsive to the needs of children, carers and families.
• Contributing to inspections, regulatory activity and service reviews by providing expert advice and evidence of compliance.
• Supporting senior managers through the provision of professional challenge, advice and recommendations to improve outcomes for children.

This role does not include direct line management responsibility but requires significant professional leadership, coordination and influence across the fostering service.

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.

Our four values are central to our culture, driving everything we do.

We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to be reflective of this diversity, which we firmly believe benefits our colleagues, the organisation and our communities. If you don’t meet every single requirement in the job role but think this could be you, please don’t be put off. We are committed to building a workplace that is compassionate and inclusive as well as diverse, so if you think you could be a good candidate for this role please consider applying and speak to the recruiting manager if you have any questions.

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, along with our employee network 'IDEAL' and self-organised peer support groups help us to foster an inclusive, supportive and safe working environment where people feel valued, respected, and empowered. We collect relevant diversity data for monitoring as part of the recruitment process to understand the diversity of our applicants and monitor any trends throughout the recruitment processes so that we can take meaningful action.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We fully support providing reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process, as well as when you join us, and we encourage candidates to contact the Hiring Manager, whose details can be found in the advert, to discuss any adjustment needs. Through a Guaranteed Interview Scheme, we will offer an interview to all applicants who disclose a disability and meet the essential criteria for a job vacancy. On your application form you can indicate you are disabled. Some examples of reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process could include additional time to complete an assessment or printing a document on pastel coloured paper with larger font size and line spacing. We would value talking about what might be possible to enable you to join us and thrive, so if there is something that would help you to do your best during your journey with us, please get in touch.

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-career