About the role
Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA)
Make a life‑saving difference every day
Are you an experienced domestic abuse professional ready to use your skills where they truly matter? Do you thrive in fast‑paced, meaningful work where your expertise can help people rebuild safety, choice and control?
Join our Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (DASV) Partnership team and be part of a committed, multi‑agency service making a real difference for victims across Cambridgeshire.
About the Role
As an Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA), you will provide specialist, trauma‑informed crisis support to high‑risk victims of domestic abuse. You’ll work with individuals at critical points in their lives, helping them increase their safety, navigate complex systems, and make informed decisions about their future.
You’ll play a key role within the MARAC process, working proactively with police, housing, health, children’s services and the legal system to reduce risk and improve outcomes.
Our IDVA team is varied, with roles focused on:
- Housing links
- Young people
- Ethnic minority communities
- Victims whose perpetrators are engaged with the DRIVE perpetrator programme
You may be asked to work within one of these specialist areas, so relevant experience is highly valued.
This is a 1‑year fixed‑term post to cover maternity leave, with the potential for extension.
For more information or to chat about this opportunity please contact Julia.Cullum@cambridgeshire.gov.uk
What will you be doing?
What You’ll Be Doing
- Managing a caseload of high‑risk domestic abuse cases
- Completing risk assessments and safety planning
- Providing tailored crisis intervention by phone and face‑to‑face
- Acting as a strong, trusted advocate with housing, courts, police and other agencies
- Contributing to MARAC and wider partnership working
- Putting survivor voice, choice and safety at the centre of everything you do
About you
About You
You’ll be a resilient, compassionate and confident professional who brings specialist domestic abuse knowledge and a calm approach in complex situations. You will have:
- ✅ A‑level, NVQ Level 3 or equivalent (essential)
- ✅ Degree or SafeLives IDVA qualification (desirable)
- ✅ Proven experience supporting victims of domestic abuse
- ✅ Strong understanding of domestic abuse, risk, and relevant legislation
- ✅ Excellent communication, advocacy and problem‑solving skills
- ✅ The ability to work independently while thriving as part of a supportive team
- ✅ A clear commitment to safeguarding adults and children
- ✅ Ability to travel and work across Cambridgeshire
This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check and police vetting
Interview dates are 3rd and 8th June
Our benefits
We value our colleagues in Cambridgeshire County Council and have developed a number of benefits in addition to the basics like annual leave, sick pay, pension and mileage…
- A comprehensive wellbeing package to cover all aspects of wellbeing, both in and out of work, which can also be accessed by your family
- Buy up to 4 weeks additional annual leave (pro-rata) through our salary sacrifice scheme
- Take your bank holidays flexibly to better suit your personal circumstances
- Make Additional Voluntary Contributions (Shared AVCs) to your pension with tax and National Insurance savings
- Access to development opportunities, apprenticeships and qualified coaches to support your personal and professional growth
- Paid volunteering hours each year so you can make a positive impact on our community during your normal working day
- Access to Peer Support Groups through our IDEAL staff equality, diversity and inclusion network
- Opportunities to nominate and receive Employee Recognition Awards
- An Our Cambs Rewards account, giving you access to in-store and online discounts as well as our Car Lease and Cycle to Work schemes
Take a look at our Employment Benefits Brochure attached to this advert to find out more.
About us
Cambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population, an urban centre in Cambridge, historic Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives as well as more rural landscapes.
Our four values are central to our culture, driving everything we do.
We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to be reflective of this diversity, which we firmly believe benefits our colleagues, the organisation and our communities. If you don’t meet every single requirement in the job role but think this could be you, please don’t be put off. We are committed to building a workplace that is compassionate and inclusive as well as diverse, so if you think you could be a good candidate for this role please consider applying and speak to the recruiting manager if you have any questions.
Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, along with our employee network 'IDEAL' and self-organised peer support groups help us to foster an inclusive, supportive and safe working environment where people feel valued, respected, and empowered. We collect relevant diversity data for monitoring as part of the recruitment process to understand the diversity of our applicants and monitor any trends throughout the recruitment processes so that we can take meaningful action.
We are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We fully support providing reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process, as well as when you join us, and we encourage candidates to contact the Hiring Manager, whose details can be found in the advert, to discuss any adjustment needs. Through a Guaranteed Interview Scheme, we will offer an interview to all applicants who disclose a disability and meet the essential criteria for a job vacancy. On your application form you can indicate you are disabled. Some examples of reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process could include additional time to complete an assessment or printing a document on pastel coloured paper with larger font size and line spacing. We would value talking about what might be possible to enable you to join us and thrive, so if there is something that would help you to do your best during your journey with us, please get in touch.
Visit our jobs and careers section to find out more about our wide range of learning and development opportunities; apprenticeships; our wellbeing package; staff benefits; our commitment to equality, diversity and Inclusion.
Attached documents
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