Social worker struck off for lying about sex offender meetings

A social worker who invented meetings with sex offenders while dodging those he was supposed to see has been struck off.

Colin Smith faced a string of dishonesty charges at the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), including lying about meetings with services users and failing to carry out risk assessments.

Smith, of Arbroath, committed the offences between June 2012 and January 2016 while working for Angus Council.

He was told his behaviour had damaged the reputation of his profession.

Between November 2013 and February 2014, Smith failed to carry out weekly meetings with a sex offender as well as failing to tell his line manager he had not been carrying out the meetings.

Smith told a Multi-agency Partner Protection Agency meeting in January 2014 that he was in weekly contact with the service user, when he wasn’t.

He also made false claims about meeting service users in December 2015, including falsely stating in his diary sheets that he was visiting a service user in Perth prison, when he had in fact been released in November 2015.

He failed to meet with seven other service users between December 2015 and January 2016.

A report from the SSSC stated: “The allegations are serious and violate fundamental values of the profession.

“You have acted in a dishonest manner and failed to provide an acceptable level of care to numerous service users over a sustained period of time.”

Angus Council said: “We note the findings of the SSSC.”