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
Salary: £28,962 – £32,685 per annum
Part-time (22 hours), permanent post
Closing date: 4 May 2025
Interview date: To be confirmed
Job reference: BFC0836
We have an exciting opportunity for you to join our well established team as a Primary Mental Health Worker. Our Primary Mental Health Team (PMHT) in Reading was set up in 2008 to offer early intervention for children and young people who are at risk of developing serious mental health problems. Since then, we have further evolved and are now essential in filling a gap between early intervention Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) and more specialist Getting More Help (CAMHS) services.
For more information and a confidential discussion, please contact Angelika Welz Angelika.Welz@brighterfuturesforchildren.org
Andrea King Andrea.King@brighterfuturesforchildren.org or
Vikki Lawrence Vikki.Lawrence@brighterfuturesforchildren.org
2 x Full time, permanent posts
Salary:
Newly qualified – £42,314 – £43,235 per annum (includes £8000 market supplement)
Experienced – £44,124 – £50,708 pa (includes £8000 market supplement)
Closing date: 7 May 2025
Interview date: To be confirmed
Job reference: BFC0832
We have an exciting opportunity for you to join our Occupational Therapy team.
We are currently expanding the service and have two vacancies for a Paediatric Occupational Therapist within our Childrens Disability Service.
The OT team consists of 4 full time OT posts, 2 OT assistants and an OT Team Manager. The team sits under the umbrella of the Childrens Disability Service and works closely with Social Workers and short breaks colleagues within the Childrens and Young People’s Disability Team (CYPDT).
We support children and young people from 0-18 with disabilities, providing equipment, adaptations and support within their homes.
For more information and a confidential discussion, please contact hiring managers – Tracy Allen (Occupational Therapy Team Manager) at Tracy.Allen@brighterfuturesforchildren.org
Salary: £60,146 – £65,941 per annum
Full-time, Permanent post
Closing date: 4 May 2025
Interview date: To be confirmed
Job reference: BFC0840
You will support the delivery of improved outcomes for children looked after by increasing the choice of homes in Reading. You will be the strategic and operational lead for the management and development of children’s homes in line with the Placement Sufficiency Strategy and statutory regulations set out in children’s Homes Regulations 2015 and Quality Standards. As part of the Children’s Services Senior Management Team, you will share responsibility for driving and implementing the strategic and operational vision of both Brighter Futures for Children and the Council and for successfully managing the cultural change required to achieve excellent service delivery.
For more information and a confidential discussion about this role, please contact our Transformation Lead, Lisa Bursill: Lisa.Bursill@brighterfuturesforchildren.org
For any query regarding the application process, please contact our Senior HR Advisor, Suchita Swain: Suchita.swain@reading.gov.uk
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!