A 48-year-old social work student from Outwell, Cambridgeshire has been removed from the Social Care Register after an independent committee of the General Social Care Council (GSCC) found he had breached the Code of Practice for Social Care Workers.

During a one-day hearing held in London, the panel heard that Neil Gabriel was convicted in 2007 of indecently assaulting a 10-year-old girl and was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment. Mr Gabriel was put on the Sex Offenders’ Register for 10 years.

When coming to the decision to remove him from the register the committee said that Mr Gabriel’s behaviour was a very serious departure from the standards expected of a social work student. Gabriel’s continued denial of the offence, with no acknowledgement of the consequences to the victim, was listed as an aggravating factor.

Sir Rodney Brooke, Chair of the GSCC, said: “The GSCC has a responsibility to ensure that only people of good character and conduct are on the Social Care Register, including those practising as social work students. We must therefore take action where we find that someone is not adhering to the qualities and principles set out in the code of practice. Fortunately cases of misconduct are rare and the majority of the 97,000 social workers and social work students on the register uphold the highest standards of conduct.”

Removal from the register means that the registrant will not be able to practise as a social worker or as a social work student. Registrants have a right of appeal to the independent Care Standards Tribunal.