By Charlie Carmichael
A social worker who inflated the care requirements of two “vulnerable services users” for personal gain has been struck off from the social services register. The social worker in question effectively deprived them of “the appropriate level of care”, a HCPC panel has found
The social worker was convicted of two counts of fraud in October 2017, but was not automatically removed from the HCPC panel following the conviction. However, following a meeting, the panel removed from the register after the panel ruled her convictions were “fundamentally incompatible with ongoing registration”. The panel also made reference to the social worker’s lack of “remorse or remediation” as a contributing factor behind its decision to strike her name from the register.
Despite the social worker being convicted in November last year, the HCPC told The Eye Of Media.Com that the fitness to practise(FTP) scheduling team needed time to gather their own batch of information which included speaking to the police, witnesses, and scheduling a date in order to hold their own assessment of what steps they would take. ”Normally a court conviction against a social worker would lead to an immediate striking off, but not in all cases. Sometimes legal rules may impose different outcomes from that which may result from an independent body. Not all misconduct by a social worker leads to a striking off, sometimes a condition of order practise might be given, but in serious cases of offence, the social worker will be struck off the register and would never be able to work professionally as a social worker. In this case, the HCPC found it necessary to examine all the fine details of the case in deciding whether the social worker should be permanently struck off. It was eventually decided that a striking off would be the right decision to take”.
The social worker’s identification has been withheld, as is usually the case for social workers, although they don’t really deserve such protection when found guilty of misconduct. This social worker personally benefited from inflating the care requirements of two elderly services users on her caseload by assessing the service users as having needs “over and above” those which they required. The social worker and her partner fraudulently proceeded to rent a property and sub-let it to the same service users, who made payments to the couple. She fraudulently failed to make the council aware of these arrangements . The woman whose identity is being protected by the HCPC was eventually sentenced to prison in November 2017.
HARM
The panel also concluded the social worker had caused the service users “actual harm” and deprived them of an “appropriate level of care”.
The panel added that the social worker had purposely “targeted two particularly vulnerable service users” and “undermined her position of trust” as a social worker to gain financial benefit and had, consequently, brought the profession into “disrepute”.
It was also highlighted that the social worker’s ‘not guilty’ plea demonstrated “no evidence of remorse or remediation”.
The social worker breached three standards in total.
‘Serious abuse of trust’. Despite considering alternative sanctions, the panel decided the social worker’s actions were serious enough to warrant her name being struck off the register.
“The registrant’s conduct involved a serious abuse of trust as part of a sophisticated offence with significant planning over a sustained period of time, targeting two particularly vulnerable service users and abusing scarce public resources,” it said.
“The panel is of the view that the nature of the registrant’s convictions are such that they are fundamentally incompatible with ongoing registration.”