Surge in dishonesty cases sparks vetting call by GSCC

General Social Care Council calls on employers to tighten procedures

GSCC chair Rosie Varley has told employers to tighten vetting procedures to stem the growing number of social workers being disciplined for dishonest behaviour.

Conduct montage

Daniel Lombard

Wednesday 27 May 2009 12:29

The General Social Care Council has told employers to tighten vetting procedures to stem the growing number of social workers being disciplined for dishonest behaviour.

In the past 12 months, six practitioners and one student in England have been struck off for breaching part two of the General Social Care Council's code of practice, requiring honest and trustworthy conduct. Four others have been suspended or admonished.

Offences included abusing service users' trust, faking qualifications and failing to disclose past misconduct to employers and the GSCC. In 2007-8, there was only one removal and one admonishment for similar types of misconduct.

Responsibilities

Rosie Varley, chair of the GSCC, has written to managers to remind them of their responsibilities under their code of practice. This includes a duty to ensure that only suitable people are allowed into the profession.

"Employers can help us to ensure that only suitable people remain in the workforce by thoroughly checking all applications and references and the social care register and referring any concerns to us," she said.

"We need employers and fellow professionals to raise concerns if issues come to light, so that we can take action to remove those (very few) individuals from the register."

Dishonesty cases

In the latest hearing, Martha Wright, formerly of Trafford Council in Manchester, was struck off in April for stealing nearly £5,000 from a service user with a mental incapacity.

In May 2008 Allan Beard, a mature social work student from Cornwall, was removed from the register after falsely claiming on an application form that he had been a law lecturer in 1997. In fact, he had been serving a prison sentence for fraud.

Since the GSCC's conduct system began in 2006, 15 of the 74 hearings have concerned dishonesty.

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