Social worker struck off

Julie Briggs, who started as a social worker for Peterborough City Council in 2011, was struck off following a hearing by the Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC).

The hearing heard Mrs Briggs had signed forms for four families in 2014 and 2015, and also claimed £90 of mileage. However, in an email Mrs Briggs asked to be removed from the register, because of pressure she and other social workers were put under.

She said: “I have wrote to the HCPC asking for my name to be removed as I have no intention to work as a Social Worker. I could have engaged with the process stating my reasons with regards to the allegations and told the story of how I was treated at PCC by my then line managers, and I did initially. However I was just a mere Social Worker struggling and surviving in a world full of bureaucracy and managers for whom targets and numbers meant more than person care.

“People do not care about Social Workers, we struggle on till we breakdown then we are replaced. Now my life has more pressing issues ….What I will say is that whatever the findings of the allegations they were never deliberately or purposefully done for my own needs but purely as an attempt to complete on time, working under immense sheer pressure.”

The panel heard that in April 2015 another social worker visited Foster Carer A, taking with her a recently completed foster family safe caring policy form which purported to have been signed by Foster Carer A. When Foster Carer A saw this, she said the signature was not hers. An investigation was started, and Mrs Briggs was suspended.

A spokesperson for Peterborough City Council said: “Mrs Briggs was suspended from her role as soon as the accusations were made in 2015 and a full investigation and decision making process was undertaken and concluded. The HCPC hearing has taken longer to conclude, and concurs with our own decision making outcome.”