Social worker struck off for defrauding service user

A social worker who defrauded a service user with mental health problems and stole from a supermarket has been struck off.

Kim Malpas was working for Stockport Council between January and April 2009 when she obtained four signed cheques from the service user, which she used to pay her own bills.

She tried to cover this up by falsifying the entries on the cheque stubs.

In January, Stockport Magistrates’ Court jailed her for 12 weeks after convicting her of four charges of fraud by abuse of position.

Then in June a court conditionally discharged her for stealing items worth £78 from a supermarket.

The General Social Care Council’s conduct committee described Malpas’s actions as “an appalling and disgraceful breach of trust”, adding that the misconduct had been compounded by the fact she re-offended so soon after leaving prison.

“The registrant had followed a course of conduct which amounted to a very serious abuse of trust, displayed continued dishonesty and concealment coupled with a persistent lack of insight,” the committee said.

“The fraudulent conduct towards a vulnerable service user, which took place over a matter of weeks, is fundamentally incompatible with continuing to be a registered social worker.”

Malpas did not attend the hearing.

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