A SOCIAL worker who was sacked from Hampshire County Council for putting vulnerable children at ‘serious risk’ has been suspended for a further 12 months following an investigation.

Marie Esther Nolan was struck off from the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) register by the Conduct and Competence Committee panel.

Ms Nolan who was present and not represented at the panel, had responsibility for child protection risk assessments in children aged up to 18 as part of the Test Valley Children in Need team.

The panel heard how she was placed under a performance assessment in March 2010, following difficulties with her social work practice.

They also heard how further issues in Ms Nolan’s practice were identified two years later, including not completing statutory child protection visits and not adding notes to the electronic records system for 12 problem families.

They heard evidence how she did not refer concerns about a mother’s drug use to a drug agency, or follow up on an allegation of assault perpetrated by a child’s mother on another adult at a school.

In one case she made no notes and did not carry out a risk assessment after a serious police investigation saw a child who was living with her maternal grandmother return to her parents.

Another case saw Ms Nolan not record visits to a family which was described as “completely unacceptable” between 2011 and August 2012 and it led to serious safeguarding concerns, as action was not taken on increased drug taking by a child’s mother, a change of accommodation and the mother receiving a prison sentence.

Following an investigation Ms Nolan was dismissed.

In mitigation the panel accepted that she was under ‘great personal strain’ which had a significant effect on her ability cope with the demands of her work, and that she had not been involved in other disciplinary issues.

The manager responsible for her for a number of years noted that in contrast to her problems with time and case load management she had good skills in establishing relationships with service users.

Panel chair William Nelson, said: “Ms Nolan has expressed genuine remorse in respect of the facts proved.

“Whilst her shortcomings may be remediable, they have clearly not yet been remedied and there remains a real risk of repetition. The period of suspension will give Ms Nolan a realistic opportunity to reflect on her current indecision as to whether to seek a return to practice and if so to embark on the required remediation.”

A Hampshire County Council spokesperson said: “Our managers acted quickly to address the worker’s performance problems and rightly gave her support to improve the weaknesses, which were primarily around case recording, and time and workload management.

“Regrettably, we had to reach the conclusion that the worker was not able or willing to improve her practice, so we acted accordingly.”