Become part of a team which shares your passion
Thank you for your interest in working with us. Whether you’re an experienced practitioner, a newly qualified social worker, or you’re looking for a support services role, you’ll be able to develop your career in a great working environment with us in Reading.
Please note, we guarantee all Reading care leavers an interview if they meet the basic selection criteria for a vacancy. Please let us know as part of your application.
Apart from our executive roles, our vacancies are advertised on Jobs Go Public and on Total Jobs. The recruitment process is handled for us by our parent company, Reading Borough Council.
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Current vacancies
Full-time, Permanent post
Salary: £45,938 – £50,708 pa (includes £8,000 Annual Market Supplement)
Welcome payment: £5000 (after successful 6-month probationary period)
Loyalty payments: £3000 after 12 months and £3000 on completion of 24 months
Job reference: BFC0802
We currently have vacancies for case-holding, qualified social workers. We believe that relationship-based social work makes a difference in children, young people and families’ lives and our generic teams focus on direct work with children, young people and families.
Our Together for Families (TfF) service is an exciting development for Brighter Futures for Children and has been introduced to allow children and families to benefit from the continuity of only one social worker. The benefit for social workers is lower caseloads and an environment that makes relationship-based social work flourish.
Our Together for Families teams work with children during S.17 (Children Act, 1989) single assessments, S.47 child protection investigations, as well as working with children subject to Child In Need Plans, Child Protection Plans, pre-proceedings, proceedings and those becoming looked after.
Support to families is also provided through our evidence-informed and timely programme of support delivered via family support workers and specialist adult practitioners in mental health and substance use. The aim is to ensure an effective trauma-informed ‘whole family’ response to needs and risk for children.
There are numerous opportunities for training and development at BFfC. We have secured excellent training for all our staff through Research in Practice and established a sound partnership with the NSPCC. We value our staff and want to support them in their progression with us.
For more information and a confidential discussion, please contact Sabina Baz on Sabina.Baz@brighterfuturesforchildren.org or Paul Sibanda on Paul.Sibanda@brighterfuturesforchildren.org
Full-time, Permanent post
Salary: £70,646 – £76,441 per annum (includes £10,500 annual market supplement)
Closing date: 6 April 2025
Interview date: To be confirmed
Job reference: BFC0823
We have an exciting opportunity for you to join our Children Social Care team. You will lead on the implementation for the BFfC workforce development strategy for Children’s Social Care and also for the delivery of our learning and development offer to managers and social work staff. You will chair Team Managers forums and Practitioner Champions groups to ensure a consistent approach to learning and training across the organisation.
You together with the ASYE Coordinator, will support, mentor and coach all ASYE staff to ensure they are supported within their first year of practice and thereafter. You will also commence the development of our agreed Practice Framework and will champion the partnership with Research and Practice and other sector led improvements work in Reading, in the region and nationally where directed.
You will need to act as a critical friend to Senior Leaders to ensure the voice of social work staff and Children are heard in all our future planning and Service delivery.
For more information and a confidential discussion about the role, please contact our Transformation Lead, Lisa Bursill on Lisa.Bursill@brighterfuturesforchildren.org
For any query regarding the application process, please contact our Senior HR Advisor, Suchita Swain on Suchita.swain@reading.gov.uk
We look forward to hearing from you!
Full-time, Permanent post
Salary: £45,938-£50,708 (inclusive of £8,000 annual market supplement)
Closing date: 6 April 2025
Interview date: 17 April 2025
Job reference: BFC0828
We have an exciting opportunity for you to join our Family and Friends team within Brighter Futures for Children’s Adoption & Permanence Service.
Our Adoption & Permanence Service sits within our Children’s Social Care Service. The Service, brings together a number of our permanency services, including, but not limited to:
– Permanency Planning for all Children Looked After aged up to 14 years.
– Family finding for children with Care Plans of permanent fostering.
– The assessment of Connected Carers and Special Guardians.
– The registration of Private Foster Carers and monitoring and supporting private fostering arrangements.
– Supervision of and support to Connected Carers.
– The provision of Special Guardianship Support Services.
– The management of the BFfC Permanence Allowance Scheme.
– Liaison with our RAA and the day-to-day management of our RAA contract.
– The provision of support and advise to social workers and managers across the local authority, with regards to achieving and maintaining permanent placements for Children Looked After.
– The completion of Life Books and setting up of contact arrangement for adopted children.
The post holder’s case load will focus on completing Viability, Regulation 24, Private Fostering and full assessments of prospective Family & Friends Carers and prospective Special Guardians, for children and young people who are in the care of Brighter Futures for Children.
Want to know more?
For more information and a confidential discussion, please contact:
– Alexandra Lambert – Team Manager, on: alexandra.lambert@brighterfuturesforchildren.org
or:
– Hilary Loades – Head of Service, on: hilary.loades@brighterfuturesforchildren.org
We look forward to hearing from you!
Full-time, Permanent post
Salary: £59,505 – £65,488 per annum (includes £6700 annual market supplement)
Closing date: 2 April 2025
Interview date: To be confirmed
Job reference: BFC0826
We have an exciting opportunity for you to join our Front Door Access team, which is called Children’s Single Point of access (CSPoA). We are the first recipients of all contacts and referrals to Children’s Social Care, Early Help and our Partnership Hub. This is a co-located and integrated service with key statutory partner agencies who are committed to getting children and families the right help at the right time.
We provide high quality information, advice, and intervention to partner agencies and members of the public as well as determining threshold of need decisions for children where concerns about their care, safety and well-being are shared.
Through the Children’s Single Point of Access (CSPoA), we are committed to delivering a seamless, multi-agency approach that provides the right help at the right time, reducing risk and preventing escalation of need.
Our operational framework is built on children being at the centre of all that we do, a foundation of collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement. By fostering strong partnerships with schools, health professionals, social care teams, and the voluntary sector, we strive to create a coordinated system
For more information or an informal discussion, please contact: James Joyce | Service Manager, Children’s Single Point of Contact and Partnerships. Email: james.joyce@brighterfuturesforchildren.org
Full-time, Permanent posts X 2
Salary: Salary: £54,710 – £57,802 per annum (includes £6000 annual market supplement)
Closing date: 2 April 2025
Interview date: To be confirmed
Job reference: BFC0827
We have an exciting opportunity for you to join our Front Door Access team, which is called Children’s Single Point of access (CSPoA). We are the first recipients of all contacts and referrals to Children’s Social Care, Early Help and our Partnership Hub. This is a co-located and integrated service with key statutory partner agencies who are committed to getting children and families the right help at the right time.
We provide high quality information, advice, and intervention to partner agencies and members of the public as well as determining threshold of need decisions for children where concerns about their care, safety and well-being are shared.
Through the Children’s Single Point of Access (CSPoA), we are committed to delivering a seamless, multi-agency approach that provides the right help at the right time, reducing risk and preventing escalation of need.
Our operational framework is built on children being at the centre of all that we do, a foundation of collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement. By fostering strong partnerships with schools, health professionals, social care teams, and the voluntary sector, we strive to create a coordinated system of support that is responsive, inclusive, and child centred.
For more information or an informal discussion, please contact: James Joyce | Service Manager, Children’s Single Point of Contact and Partnerships. Email: james.joyce@brighterfuturesforchildren.org
We look forward to hearing from you!
RISE (Reading Inclusion Support in Education) Team
12 month Fixed term (maternity cover) post
Part time, 29.6 hours
Salary: £38,968 – £43,976 pa (£48,710- £54,971 pa FTE)
Closing date: 7 April 2025
Interview date: 11 April 2025
Job reference: BFC0825
The SEND Consultant will be working within the already established RISE service, part of Brighter Futures for Children’s SEND team and part of the wider Education team. This SEND Consultant will lead on liaising with our local secondary schools.
The SEND Consultant (reporting to the Senior Educational Psychologist/RISE Service Lead) will provide management in the wider RISE/SEND Team. They will provide expert advice to schools, working at a school/group/individual level.
For more information and a confidential discussion, please contact Dr Alec de Sausmarez (Senior Educational Psychologist) on Alec.deSausmarez@brighterfuturesforchildren.org
We look forward to hearing from you!
Considering a career in childcare?
Click the button below to find out about childcare career pathways in Reading.
Routes into Teaching
Our local Initial Teacher Education provider, the University of Reading, works in partnership with local schools to provide various routes into teaching. These include primary and secondary School Direct, school-based routes into teaching through which trainee teachers are embedded in local schools throughout the year as well as attending university for core training and support. Visit the following pages for further information and to find out your next step on the road to becoming a teacher:
If you are a Reading school interested in hosting ITE, please find out more and contact the University via Institute of Education – Partnership website
This can be a great way to ‘grow your own’ teachers, and with both salaried and tuition-fee funded routes available there is not necessarily any cost to the school.
How to join us
Our staff are at the very core of what we do. Without them we wouldn’t be able to provide any of our services. They represent us within the community and are at the frontline of decision making for many children, young people and their families.
Our aim is to value, support and enable everyone to be able to do their jobs well and it’s the same for our employees of the future.
We value the fact that it takes time in your busy day to call and make an enquiry or to complete an application form. It is important to us that we provide an efficient and effective service to everyone that we have contact with and we aim to provide all candidates with a very positive and efficient recruitment experience.
We aim to confirm receipt of all enquiries within 48hrs and to keep you informed at each stage of the recruitment process.
Most of our communication with you will be via email so be sure to give us the correct email address.
We welcome enquiries and visits so if you would like to pop in and meet us and see who we are prior to making an application or attending an interview then just let us know.
While you're here...Ever thought about becoming a foster carer?
Foster carers receive an allowance, so essentially it’s a paid role and can be a hugely rewarding career!