Sally Cheshire announced as Chair of Cafcass along with three reappointments to the Board

We are delighted to announce that Sally Cheshire CBE has been appointed as the substantive Chair of the Cafcass Board and that Paul Grant, Catherine Doran and Mandy Jones have all been reappointed as Board members.

Sally stepped into the interim Chair position after her predecessor, Edward Timpson CBE, stood down ahead of his election as an MP in December 2019. Sally has been a member of Cafcass since May 2018 and had previously held the Deputy Chair role.

Jacky Tiotto, Chief Executive said:

“I feel honoured that we are able to welcome back to the Board Paul, Catherine, Mandy, and Sally as our Chair.

During the past year as interim Chair, Sally has shown her resilience and impeccable professional ability to take on the role whilst faced with the unprecedented challenges that have affected the family justice system in 2020. She has supported the senior team and I in leading Cafcass through one of our most difficult periods and I cannot think of a more suitable and experienced individual for the position. I am more than looking forward to continuing to work with Sally and our board to lead Cafcass and to work collaboratively with our partners on wider family justice reform.”

Commenting on her appointment, Sally said:

“I am thrilled to be appointed as Chair of the Cafcass Board. During the challenges of the past year, I can only express my gratitude for the commitment and dedication of all our colleagues in frontline social work and in corporate and business services for their relentless efforts to support the children, young people and families we work with.

I am passionate about ensuring children’s wishes are respected and decisions are taken in their best interest and improving the quality of public services offered to families and children remains at the top of my agenda. I look forward to continuing to work across the family justice system alongside our exceptional colleagues and those reappointed to the Board as we mark this milestone year with Cafcass, celebrating our 20th anniversary.”

Sally steps down shortly as Chair of the HFEA, the UK’s regulator of the fertility sector and embryo research. She is an experienced chair and board member across health and social care and has held senior leadership roles with NHS North, Health Education England and the Health Research Authority. She was a Board Member of the regional adoption agency, Adoption Counts and currently serves on the Care Quality Commission Board and the Audit Committee of the Department of Work and Pensions.

The Family Justice Young People’s Board have added:

“We’d like to express our congratulations to Sally on her appointment as Chair of the Cafcass Board. We have been very fortunate to have worked with Sally in her interim post and are delighted that she has been successful in securing the position on a permanent basis. Sally has proven to be a great advocate for the voice of the child and improving outcomes for children and young people, and we look forward to working with her further in future.

We would also like to take the opportunity to congratulate Catherine, Paul, and Mandy on their reappointment. They each bring great insight and vision to the Cafcass Board which is more important now than ever with the pressures faced by Cafcass.”

To find out more about Sally’s experience and background please visit our management page.

The announcement made by the MOJ can be found on their website.