Trainee HR Officer

Start Your HR Career Where It Truly Matters

At Cafcass, we are united by one purpose – to be the voice of children and young people in the family court.

We are looking for a motivated and ambitious Trainee HR Officer to join our HR Business Partnering team. This is an excellent opportunity to build a meaningful career in HR while supporting an organisation that makes a genuine difference to children and families.

About the Role

As a Trainee HR Officer, you will join a national HR Operations / People Services function, supporting managers across a complex organisation.

This structured development role will provide hands-on experience across the full employee lifecycle and prepare you to progress into a HR Officer role.

You will work under the supervision of an HR Manager and HR Business Partner / Officer, gaining exposure to both operational HR activity and project-based work.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Support the delivery of a high-quality HR service across employee relations and HR operations.
• Assist with employee relations casework, including sickness absence, conduct, capability and grievances.
• Attend meetings, support investigations, take notes and assist with drafting HR correspondence.
• Maintain HR systems and analyse data to produce reports and insights.
• Support workforce planning through the analysis and presentation of HR management information.
• Contribute to restructuring and organisational change activity.
• Undertake project-based work including research, data analysis and stakeholder engagement.
• Support organisational initiatives including wellbeing, engagement and learning and development.

About You

• Degree level qualification and/or working towards a CIPD qualification (minimum Level 3 with ambition to progress further).
• Experience in an administrative or HR environment, ideally supporting a range of HR activities.
• Strong organisational skills and the ability to manage competing priorities.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to analyse and interpret data to identify trends and make recommendations.
• Good IT skills, including Microsoft Office and databases.
• Resilience, strong interpersonal skills and a proactive, professional approach.
• A clear commitment to developing a long-term career in HR.

Location & Travel Requirements (Important)

This role is Midlands-based, with hybrid working.

Nationwide travel will be required to support operational and development needs.

Applications will only be considered from candidates located within the West or East Midlands due to travel and training requirements.

Why Join Cafcass?

Be part of an organisation that makes a real difference to children and families, offering flexible hybrid working supported by strong wellbeing initiatives, an inclusive and diverse working environment committed to equality and representation, and the opportunity to work on high-impact organisational change and workforce challenges.

Apply Now

If you are ready to start your career in HR and want to make a meaningful impact, we would love to hear from you.

Next steps / timelines

If and when you are ready to apply, our application process is straightforward and quick to complete. You don’t need to complete your application in a single visit, you can start it and come back and amend your responses / update your CV, just make sure you come back before the closing date to submit.

Below we have given you an indication of a timetable we are hoping to work towards, although dates are subject to change.

We understand you may benefit from finding out more to help you decide to apply. There is a lot of information available at Cafcass Careers but if there is something else you need to find out more about, you can either contact Priya Kadara from our Resourcing team if your query is to do with the recruitment process or is HR-related, or Kathryn Alston if your questions relate more to the role, providing your contact information and best times / methods to get hold of you.

Whilst we will always try and respond a.s.a.p. we wouldn’t want you to miss the closing date before we are able to. If this is the case, we recommend you apply and as part of your application you can ask questions and this may allow us to contact you and provide you with the required information that will help you decide if you still wish to be considered.

Finally, in anticipation of your application being successful, you might want to read about the offer and pre-employment checks process. As part of your application you can highlight any concerns or questions about the pre-employment checks and we encourage all applicants to do so, safe in the knowledge such information will not be shared with individuals involved in the selection process.

We look forward to hearing from you.