A hearing into the conduct of a Registered Social Worker will be held from 22 to 24 July 2008 by the social care workforce regulator for England, the General Social Care Council (GSCC).

The social worker concerned is alleged to have committed misconduct and breached the GSCC’s Code of Practice for Social Care Workers by:

• forming an inappropriate personal relationship with a service user they had met while conducting initial assessments for a local authority’s child protection team, and;
• after leaving the employment of the local authority, forming another inappropriate personal relationship with a different service user whom they had also met during their time with the child protection team.

On registering with the GSCC, social work students and social workers agree to abide by a Code of Practice. Action can be taken if their conduct or practice is in breach of this. They can be removed from the Social Care Register if it is considered that they are no longer suitable to be a Registered Social Worker.