Malicious complaint re alleged abuse of a vulnerable adult

kingfisherblue

PHILANTHROPIST wrote: »

Sadly it is true. The charity is very well known and the officer was rightfully concerned to hear that the employer's allegations may be malicious. Thus, they simply alerted me to the fact that a referral had been made and the what the consequences maybe if my friend is DBS referred.

Anyhow, seeing a barrister later in the week so will await his advice.

Thanks for everyone's constructive input.

In that case, the council officer should be aware that breaching confidentiality is a very serious matter - at the very least, it is misconduct, but more likely to be gross misconduct. I doubt if they would put their job on the line by speaking about this to a complete stranger......

PHILANTHROPIST

kingfisherblue wrote: »

In that case, the council officer should be aware that breaching confidentiality is a very serious matter - at the very least, it is misconduct, but more likely to be gross misconduct. I doubt if they would put their job on the line by speaking about this to a complete stranger......

They are on the Safeguarding Board and therefore I think they would be entitled to be concerned if an allegedly malicious referral is made to the safeguarding team who man the helpline.

Anyhow, Counsel will be able to advise later this week and if you, or other members, are interested I will report back.

Malicious referrals to safeguarding must be reasonably common, but to allow an employer to run a disciplinary investigation in parallel with a safeguarding investigation could be scary.

I trust you will agree that the vast majority of disciplinary processes conducted by employers are partial and are rarely, if ever, truly independent, unless say ACAS are brought in to mediate.

Tiddlywinks

PHILANTHROPIST wrote: »

They are on the Safeguarding Board and therefore I think they would be entitled to be concerned if an allegedly malicious referral is made to the safeguarding team who man the helpline.

Entitled to be concerned but NOT entitled or authorised to disclose (confirm or deny) details of allegations made and / or received.

I find it difficult to accept that someone on such a board would step outside of the process with a stranger over a game of golf.