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Wick social care worker inadvertently used employer’s card for £160 in Amazon purchases





A social care worker based in Wick and employed by Highland Council has been reprimanded by a social services body after being found using the company card to buy personal items on Amazon.

A Wick-based social worker has been sanctioned by the SSSC.
A Wick-based social worker has been sanctioned by the SSSC.

The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) published its decision concerning the misconduct by Jacqueline Drain on Thursday, placing a warning on the register for children and young people’s workers for six months.

In the decision notice, the SSSC stated that they had evidence that while employed as a social care worker by Highland Council, she “inadvertently used” her employer’s purchase card to purchase personal items online from Amazon for a sum of just under £160 in December 2022.

The following January, it was also found that she had spoken on the phone to a member of the public, saying about a person who uses services saying they had spent £200 on gin in a week.

“Your fitness to practise is impaired because of your misconduct.”

Commenting on the reasons why her fitness to practice was impaired, they said: “Social service workers must meet relevant standards of practice and work in a lawful way. You inadvertently misappropriated money from your employer by using a company card to purchase personal items online from Amazon. These actions had the potential to damage your employer financially and therefore affect the level of care provided to service users.

“Social service workers must respect and maintain the dignity and privacy of people who use services and must not behave in a way which would bring their suitability to work in the profession into question. You have shared personal information about a person who uses services with a member of the public. Sharing information about a person who uses services is a breach of their privacy and of your own duty to protect their wellbeing. Sharing this kind of information could be damaging to their reputation and could cause them to lose faith in social service workers.

“The behaviour displayed falls short of the professional standards expected of social service workers. There are ongoing public protection concerns and public interest is also engaged. The public would expect the SSSC to take action to reaffirm the relevant standards of practice and to uphold public confidence.”

However, the SSSC also found in favour of Ms Drain that she had not previously come to their attention, with positive references produced in her favour and that she fully cooperated throughout the investigation.

It was also taken into account that no actual harm was caused as a result of her actions, which had occurred over 18 months ago.


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