Vice Chair - Independent Fostering Panel
| Posting date: | 05 December 2025 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £150 per day |
| Additional salary information: | Competitive |
| Hours: | Part time |
| Closing date: | 23 December 2025 |
| Location: | Cheadle, SK8 1JE |
| Company: | The Together Trust |
| Job type: | Temporary |
| Job reference: | togethertrust/TP/661/335 |
Summary
Have you ever wanted to make a difference to the lives of vulnerable Children and Young People? The Together Trust Fostering Agency Supports foster families across the Northwest of England providing a caring stable home to children and young people who can’t live with their own family.
We have vacancies for 2 Vice Chairpersons of the Independent Fostering Panel. You will meet with the Chair of the panel and other panel members on a 4 to 6 weekly basis, and you will help make informed recommendations to the Agency Decision Maker on the suitability of new foster carers who wish to work with the Together Trust.
The Together Trust is one of the North West’s leading charities, offering individual care, support, and education to hundreds of children, young people, and adults each year.We are a not-for-profit charitable trust, so every penny goes back into benefiting the people that we support.
The Together Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the people that we support and expects all our staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
This role is an independent role sessional, and the relationship that you will have with the Together Trust will be as one of an independent sessional worker.
Location: Together Trust’s Central Office in Cheadle, Greater Manchester.
Payment: £150 for panel meetings and reading £400 when chairing the Panel in absence of Panel Chairperson
This is a sessional role, with panels typically held every 4 to 6 weeks on a Tuesday afternoon. It’s ideal for someone looking to take on a meaningful leadership position with flexible hours.This post requires an enhanced DBS check which will be administered and covered by the Together Trust.
- Do you have the leadership skills to support life-changing decisions for children in care?
- Can you use your experience in fostering or children’s services to guide complex discussions?
- Does the opportunity to shape high-quality, child-focused practice appeal to you?
As Vice chair of the Together Trusts Fostering Panel, you will be pivotal in the effective and smooth running of the Fostering Panel, you will deputise for the Panel Chair, chairing meetings and ensuring all panel business is conducted in line with fostering regulations, statutory guidance, and national minimum standards.
Key responsibilities include:
- Chairing fostering panel meetings in the absence of the Panel Chair.
- To ensure that clear and accurate minutes are written, which record any serious reservations which Panel members may have, and to be involved in checking draft minutes before they are sent to the Agency Decision Maker and to the next Panel meeting.
- Scrutinising assessments and facilitating high-quality panel discussions.
- Supporting decision-making on fostering approvals, reviews, and de-registrations.
- Promoting anti-discriminatory practice and identifying areas for service improvement.
- Liaising closely with the Agency Adviser, Panel Administrator, and Agency Decision Maker.
- Ensuring recommendations are clear, evidence-based, and meet statutory requirements.
About You:
We’re looking for someone who brings a strong blend of professional experience and values-led leadership. To succeed in this role, you’ll need to have:
- Substantial experience in fostering, adoption, or wider children’s services.
- An excellent understanding of fostering legislation, regulations, and National Minimum Standards.
- Proven ability to lead and facilitate complex discussions and make well-reasoned recommendations.
- Experience chairing panels or multi-agency meetings, or strong potential to do so.
- Commitment to anti-discriminatory, child-centred practice.
- Confidence in decision-making and ability to challenge where necessary.
- Excellent communication, analytical and organisational skills.
- Willingness to stay up to date with legislation, best practice, and panel developments.
The Fostering Panel plays a vital role in ensuring the safety, stability, and success of fostering arrangements within the Together Trust. The panel brings together experienced professionals and independent voices to review assessments and make well-informed, child-centred recommendations.
You’ll be supported by a committed team including the Panel Chair, and the Fostering Registered Manager. You will have the opportunity to contribute to wider service development and quality assurance through meetings and feedback.
For detailed qualifications and requirements, please review the job description attached to this advert.
Applications are very welcome from all regardless of age, disability, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, religion or belief, race, sex, sexual orientation, trans status or socio-economic background. We are committed to making reasonable adjustments for disabled people. We positively encourage applications from those with lived experience.
If there is any part of your lived experience you want to keep confidential in some way, please talk to the Recruitment or HR shared service teams and we will do what we can to support you.
Skills:
Fostering; Social Care; Social Services
Keywords:
Fostering; Social Care; Social Services