Social worker suspended for placing service users at risk

Social worker Luke Tydeman has been suspended from the HCPC Register for poor risk assessment whilst working for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

A panel of the HCPC Conduct and Competence Committee heard that Mr Tydeman failed to investigate an incident when Child A was in possession of a knife and to recognise the risk this posed to Child B. This was despite Child A’s history of knife misuse, including a charge of assault against Child B the previous year, and being instructed to look into the matter by his manager.

The Panel further heard that Mr Tydeman later failed to adequately risk assess the situation when he attended without support an altercation between Child A and Child A’s parent. He did not take appropriate action to bring the altercation to an end by calling the police. He again failed to recognise and respond to the risk to Child B, who was also present in the family home.

Panel Chair Helen Carter commented:“Mr Tydeman’s behaviour had the huge potential for risk, especially given the fact that he knew Child A had a history of knife misuse.

“The Panel has concerns about the level of insight Mr Tydeman possesses since he, even in his oral evidence, seems to seek to justify what he did rather than accept responsibility for what went wrong.”

The Panel decided the most appropriate action was to suspend Luke Frans Tydeman from the Register for a period of twelve months with an Interim Suspension Order in place to cover the appeal period.

Mr Tydeman was present and represented by counsel at the hearing.