Social work manager who stole £21,000 suspended for a year

A social work manager who was convicted of stealing £21,000 from his employer has been banned from practising for a year.

Paul Martin stole the money from Leicester Council, between January 2004 and January 2008.

He was sentenced in September 2009 at Leicester Crown Court to 51 weeks in prison, suspended for 24 months. He was also required to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work.

At a hearing last week, a conduct committee of the General Social Care Council found Martin had committed misconduct, and was guilty of “dishonesty and a breach of trust”.

The committee said: “The registrant exploited service users and failed to meet in a lawful way the relevant standards of practice in his capacity as a registered social worker.”

Further details could not be disclosed because parts of the hearing were held in private under the GSCC’s health procedure.

In considering what sanction to impose, the conduct committee noted that Martin had no previous disciplinary record and had been overstretched in his position as a frontline manager.

He also subsequently repaid the full £21,000 using a family loan. The committee found he had shown “obvious insight and remorse”.

It concluded that Martin “had not set out with a dishonest intent, but this had developed as a result of his particular circumstances”, and recommended that he consider taking a refresher course before returning to work.

Read the full notice of decision

• A residential child care worker who fell asleep while on night duty has been suspended for two years by the Care Council for Wales. Mandy Lloyd attempted to cover up her misconduct by altering log sheets. The care council found Lloyd had “failed to protect the safety and welfare of the young people in her care”. The former Wrexham Council employee did not attend the hearing.

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