Suspended manager told social worker to hide affair or ‘lose your job,’ panel finds

A social worker has been suspended for six months after a professional conduct hearing found that he engaged in undisclosed intimate relationships with two junior colleagues and lied to his line manager about one of them.
The Social Work England panel found that Mr B, who worked as a team manager at Lancashire County Council between 2018 and 2020, had shown serious misconduct and brought the profession into disrepute.
Mr B joined the council as an agency worker in May 2018 before becoming a permanent member of staff the following year. At the time, he oversaw around 21 social workers across three assessment and safeguarding teams. Concerns about his conduct were referred to the regulator in late 2020.
During the five-day hearing this month, Mr B admitted tha,t while registered as a social worker, he formed relationships with two colleagues (referred to as GW and RM) who were both directly managed by him. He also admitted lying to his line manager when asked directly about one of the relationships, and acknowledged breaching Covid-19 restrictions by visiting on of their homes in 2020.
The panel noted that both women were single mothers and early in their careers, and found that Mr B had exploited the power imbalance created by his managerial position. In its findings, the panel stated: “The panel considered that the registrant appeared to have sought out women (he managed) who were newly qualified, single mothers, and therefore potentially vulnerable. This was a significant abuse of his position of authority and trust.”
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