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
Salary: £44,648 – £49,418 pa (includes £8,000 Annual Market Supplement)
Closing date: 28 April 2024
Interview dates: To be confirmed
We currently have a vacancy for a case-holding, experienced social worker. 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.
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 look forward to hearing from you!
Full-time, Permanent post
Salary: £41,418 – £47,420 Per annum
Closing date: 21 April 2024
Interview date: week of 29 April
Job reference: BFC0720
We have an exciting opportunity for you to join the Conference, Review and Participation Service as a Participation Officer. This is a dynamic and strategic role and it involves working directly with children and young people, supporting participation groups, coordinating activities and specific projects such as celebration events, advocacy and training.
This role is at the heart of hearing children’s voices, shaping services and promoting engagement and participation. This includes children open to Children Social Care such as children subject to Child Protection Plans, children in care and care experienced young adults.
For more information and a confidential discussion, please contact Otilia Broadhurst – Service Manager Reviewing, Conferencing & LADO via email Otilia.Broadhurst@brighterfuturesforchildren.org
Full-time, permanent post
Salary: £25,979 – £31,364 per annum
Closing date: 21 April 2024
Interview date: To be confirmed
Job reference: BFC0717
The Lodge Day Nursery is a busy, popular, and well-established nursery providing high quality, affordable and funded childcare to local families in the west of Reading.
The nursery is set out over three rooms which connect to a private garden space. Our local community is diverse with children attending our setting from a range of different backgrounds and with many different languages represented. Our practitioners are completely focused on ensuring that all children achieve and have an equal chance of success in an environment which is inclusive, inspiring and nurturing.
The children are very important and so is our team. We work closely with our practitioners to ensure that they continue to learn, develop, and share good practices.
We are currently looking for a Room Leader who can be responsible for the day to day management of our Inventors room and ensure a high quality, inclusive, sustainable service where parents, partners and the team are ambitious for the children and completely focused on their wellbeing and success.
For further information and to arrange a visit to the nursery please contact: Layla Littlewood, Nursery Manager at Layla.Littlewood@brighterfuturesforchildren.org
Level 2 or Level 3 Early Years Practitioner X 2 posts
The Lodge Day Nursery at Southcote Children’s Centre
Full time, Permanent post
Salary: £23,500 – £25,979 per annum
Closing date: 21/04/2024
Interview date: To be confirmed
We currently have an opportunity for you to join our fabulous team at The Lodge Day Nursery as qualified Level 2 and/or Level 3 Early Years Practitioner.
The Lodge Nursery at Southcote is a 48-place day nursery providing day care and sessional care for children 18 months to 5-year-olds. Due to expansion, we are looking for a passionate and motivated Level 2/or Level 3 qualified Early Years Practitioners.
You will have the privilege of working with the most amazing children and passionate staff within the nursery and part of Brighter Futures for children.
Our practice is underpinned by the value we place on working collaboratively with families with a systemic, holistic whole-family approach to support them in finding their own solutions and building on their strengths.
The children are very important and so is our team. We work closely with our practitioners to ensure that they continue to learn, develop, and share good practices.
For further information and to arrange a visit to the nursery please contact: Layla Littlewood, Nursery Manager at Layla.Littlewood@brighterfuturesforchildren.org
Full-time, permanent post
Salary: £25,979 – £31,364 per annum
Closing date: 19 April 2024
Interview date: To be confirmed
Job reference: BFC0716
This is an exciting opportunity for you to work as an Assistant Performance Analyst within the Performance and Data Team. The postholder will support and promote the effective use of data to support the service offerings of Brighter Futures for Children with a focus on Children’s Social Care and Early Help.
You will be responsible for improving and maintaining the quality of the associated data, liaising with service colleagues to increase awareness of internal processes and best practice, data monitoring and cleansing, and the effective use of our tools and reporting to highlight and resolve data issues.
For any query or informal discussion about the role, please feel free to contact hiring manager Fiona Dziewulski (Performance and Data Lead) on fiona.dziewulski@brighterfuturesforchildren.org
Independent Fostering Agency
Full time, permanent post
Salary: £25,979 – £31,364 per annum
Closing date: 21 April 2024
Interview date: 2 and 7 May 2024
Job reference: BFC0709
This role offers an exciting opportunity for you to join our Independent Fostering Agency and play a key role in its future growth and development.
Working under the supervision of our Consultant Practitioner (Duty, Data & Carer training & payments) you will play a key role in the day-to-day operation of our IFA duty system and will be responsible for maintaining enquiry and placement data. You will also be responsible for responding to initial enquiries from members of the public who are interested in becoming foster carers.
For more information and a confidential discussion, please contact Hilary Loades-Bannon, Head of Service, Corporate Parenting, Fostering, Special Guardianship & Adoption: Hilary.loades-bannon@brigherfuturesforchildren.org or Steffi Roth – IFA Registered Manager: Steffi.roth@brigherfuturesforchildren.org
Independent Fostering Agency
Part time, 22.2 hours per week (0.6 FTE) – Permanent post
Salary: £15,587 – £18,818 Per annum pro rata (£25,979 – £31,364 pa FTE)
Closing date: 21 April 2024
Interview date: 2 and 7 May 2024
Job reference: BFC0708
This role offers an exciting opportunity for you to join our Independent Fostering Agency and play a key role in its future growth and development. Working with our IFA Manager for Carer Recruitment & Retention and our IFA social workers, you will assist with the provision of a wide range of support and retention activities, for our carers and their families, including children who foster.
For more information and a confidential discussion, please contact Hilary Loades-Bannon, Head of Service, Corporate Parenting, Fostering, Special Guardianship & Adoption: Hilary.loades-bannon@brigherfuturesforchildren.org or Steffi Roth – IFA Registered Manager: Steffi.roth@brigherfuturesforchildren.org
Full-time, permanent post
Salary: £41,418 – £47,420 per annum
Closing date: 21 April 2024
Interview date: 2 and 7 May 2024
Job reference: BFC0707
This role offers an exciting opportunity for you to join our Independent Fostering Agency and play a key role in its future growth and development.
his is a leadership role which will require the post holder to demonstrate good leadership and the ability to positively influence the professional development of staff and the experience of children, young people, and carers and their families.
For more information and a confidential discussion, please contact Hilary Loades-Bannon, Head of Service, Corporate Parenting, Fostering, Special Guardianship & Adoption: Hilary.loades-bannon@brigherfuturesforchildren.org or Steffi Roth – IFA Registered Manager: Steffi.roth@brigherfuturesforchildren.org
Open adverts
Full Time, Permanent post
Salary: £44,648 – £49,418 per annum (includes £8000 annual market supplement)
Welcome payment: £5000 (after successful 6-month probationary period)
Loyalty payments: £3000 at both 12 and 24 months
Open advert
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:
Primary School Direct
Primary School Direct in partnership with the Institute of Education, University of Reading
Primary PGCE programme
Primary PGCE at the Institute of Education, University of Reading
Secondary Initial Teacher Training
Secondary education at the Institute of Education, University of Reading
If you are a Reading school interested in hosting a School Direct trainee, please find out more and contact the University via
Institute of Education – Partnership website (reading.ac.uk)
School Direct 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!