Plagiarism results in social worker’s removal from practice

A social worker who committed plagiarism while studying for a postgraduate qualification and gave false information on job application forms has been banned from practising.

A General Social Care Council (GSCC) conduct committee heard that Gary Carey had copied 90% of an essay from the internet while studying for a Postgraduate Certificate in Specialist Mental Health Social Work (ASW Component) at the University of Brighton in 2008.

A central witness at the hearing, the University of Brighton’s Dr Julia Stroud, told the committee during a three-day hearing in London that Mr Carey’s essay was the worst case of plagiarism she had seen in 16 years of social work education.

Mr Carey, who did not attend the hearing or submit written submissions, was also found to have supplied false and incomplete information when applying for jobs. His application forms for two posts at West Sussex County Council in 2007 included different details about his employment history.

In the first application Mr Carey said he had been employed as a locum worker since 1995 but gave no information about his employers. He also said he had obtained a Diploma in Social Work in 1987, when it was actually in 1998. In the second, he said he had worked for Surrey County Council from 1995 until 2005. He failed to disclose his employment at Torbay Council between 2004 and 2005 on either application form.

Mr Carey also failed to update care plans and carry out visits while employed at West Sussex County Council between 2007 and 2009, compromising the safety of vulnerable service users. He later sought employment with Alpha Hospitals but did not inform representatives that he had been accused of plagiarism or that an investigation was being carried out into his work practices.

The committee decided to remove Mr Carey from registration to protect colleagues and service users. It said: “The registrant was not only repeatedly dishonest but had also sought to conceal his dishonesty by providing inaccurate information on various application forms.

“The registrant also sought to obtain qualification falsely by committing plagiarism,” it added. The General Social Care Council has for the first time issued guidance to social work students, warning that submitting someone else’s work as their own could land them in trouble, after the regulator’s inspectors reported a rise in plagiarism.

GSCC guidance: http://news.basw.co.uk/post/1365584818/general-social-care-council-warns-students-about