A man convicted of having sex with an underage girl has been removed from the Social Care Register by an independent committee of the General Social Care Council (GSCC).

Thomas Mark Ritzler, 28, was employed as a social worker in Surrey when the allegations came to light. He was convicted in Guildford Crown Court on 12 November 2008 of sexual activity with a girl, who was not a service user.

Mr Ritzler was consequently jailed for two years and four months years and placed on the Sex Offenders register for 10 years. He waived his right to attend the GSCC hearing.

The Committee found Mr Ritlzer was guilty of misconduct and said he had breached the Code of Practice for Social Care Workers that all social workers sign up to when they register with the GSCC. They said that sexual activity with a child is so serious and fundamentally incompatible with the role of a social worker, that it clearly calls into question the suitability of Mr Ritzler to remain on the register.

The Code of Practice for Social Care Workers specifically says a social worker must not “behave in a way, in work or outside work, which could call into question your suitability to work in social services.”

The Committee said removal of Mr Ritzler from the register was necessary to protect members of the public, in particular children, and to maintain the reputation of social care services.

Rosie Varley, Chair of the GSCC, said: “All social workers have a responsibility to act appropriately and with integrity, abiding by the law and the GSCC code of practice. Thankfully the majority of the 80,000 registered social workers find no difficulty in complying with this. In order to maintain the safety of vulnerable people we take all matters of law breaking by social workers extremely seriously, and will not hesitate to apply the appropriate sanctions.”

Mr Ritzler was removed from the register with immediate effect. Social workers have a right of appeal to the independent First-tier Tribunal (Care Standards).