‘Remorseless’ social worker struck off after string of misdemeanors

A social worker with a track record brimming with professional misconduct, including failing to protect vulnerable children and swearing at her line managers, has been struck off.

Tanya Jane Afgan, who worked with vulnerable children at North Lincolnshire council, has been removed from the Health and Care Professions Council’s (HCPC) register following a string of more than 30 transgressions.

Her failings included texting a warning to an on-off sexual partner who was being investigated for rape, failing to check up on the newly born child of an alcoholic mother who ended up dropping the baby, failing to help a young boy seen with a known sex offender, having a slapdash attitude to filling in case files and prioritising holidays over her workload.

A panel of the HCPC’s conduct and competence committee heard that, between 2010 and 2011, Afgan also subjected her line managers to an X-rated display of verbal abuse, such as “you’re pissing me off now”, “you shouldn’t f**king ring me”, “you’re a ****”, “you’ve ****ed my week up” and “I’m sick of all this ****”.

Panel chair Brian Wroe commented after the hearing ended this week: “The panel’s conclusion is that there is no significant evidence that Miss Afgan has remedied her previous failures. She has in these proceedings been very reluctant to accept she has failed to maintain professional boundaries.

Wroe acknowledged that there was evidence to show that, at times in the past, Afgan had shown competence as a social worker. But he said that only served to aggravate her position, as she “really should have known better”.

He added: “There has been no remorse on her part and the unacceptable standard of conduct is likely to be repeated in the future.”

The panel therefore decided that the most appropriate action was to strike Afgan from the register.

Afgan was present and represented by Unison.

Read the full notice of decision