Social worker suspended in 2011 for kissing and touching colleagues is struck off

The Heath and Care Professions Council found there was a real risk Tom Watt would repeat his inappropriate behaviour.

A social worker who was suspended for two years for kissing and putting his arms around female colleagues without their consent has now been struck off.

The General Social Care Council (GSCC) suspended Tom Watt’s registration in September 2011 after it found him guilty of a string of misdemeanours, including repeatedly kissing a female administrator on the lips without her consent.

One witness described how Watt stood inappropriately close to her while she was helping him with some IT issues. He then trapped her between her desk and her chair, despite being told to “piss off”.

He also lied about his dismissal from a previous job for kissing a colleague and touching her breasts.

Watt’s two-year suspension would have automatically lifted this month, but the GSCC closed last year and responsibility for regulating social workers passed to the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).

The HCPC reviewed Watt’s case and found there was “no evidence of any remedial action undertaken by the registrant during his period of suspension”. It also noted that Watt had not expressed remorse or apologised for his actions.

As such, there remained a “real risk of repetition”, a panel of the HCPC’s conduct and competence committee concluded.

Watt did not attend the HCPC’s hearing. He has now been removed from the register.

Read the full notice of decision

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