Secret Past Of A Social Worker In Child Team

A Social worker forced to quit amid misconduct allegations landed a job with children in Aberdeen because of failings in basic background checks.

The shortcomings by Aberdeen City Council’s social work department were condemned last night as “staggering” by one north-east MSP after an employment tribunal threw out the man’s claims that he had been unfairly sacked.

Yesterday, the council admitted its recruitment process had been lacking and said a series of recommendations had been implemented as a result.

Michael Johnstone’s failure to properly disclose his past only came to light after a 15-year-old girl he worked with in Aberdeen complained he had made “inappropriate comments of a sexual nature” towards her.

By then he had been working in Aberdeen’s children and families team – which deals primarily with five to 16-year-olds – for more than a year.

Mr Johnstone, of 20a Market Street, Forfar, was suspended in July 2004 following the complaint by the girl which led to a police investigation.

Although no criminal proceedings were brought against him, Aberdeen City Council began its own internal investigation into his appointment.

They found his previous employer, Dundee City Council, had suspended him and had refused to supply references to three local authorities following his subsequent resignation.

It is understood Aberdeen City Council did not contact his line manager at Dundee, who was unaware of his application.

Further investigations by the council showed the reference he had supplied came from his union representative who had not been his superviser for a year before he quit Dundee.

It was also discovered he had failed to properly disclose details of why he left the Dundee post when he applied for the job in Aberdeen six months later.

It was found that “a number of allegations in addition to the original allegation had emerged” in Aberdeen, though these have not been disclosed.

Last night, north-east Tory MSP David Davidson raised the possibility of disciplinary action against those who had approved the appointment.

“All Scottish councils have a responsibility to ensure that anyone applying for a job is properly vetted,” he said.

“I find this quite staggering and I would like the council to produce a report into what went wrong, who was responsible and whether disciplinary measures are being taken.

“If you don’t have a proper vetting system then it puts the whole social work department at risk and it will also cause a lot of concern for those who rely on the department.”

Aberdeen North SNP MSP Brian Adam is also concerned at how Mr Johnstone had managed to slip through the council’s vetting procedures.

“It’s very disappointing that anyone who had been suspended from working with one local council was being appointed by another,” he said.

“It doesn’t say much for the city council’s human resources department.

“We should not be putting individual clients at risk.”

Mr Johnstone was called in for a disciplinary hearing in Aberdeen but this was delayed for months after he claimed not to have received mail.

He did eventually meet a representative of the social work department in January 2005 and denied the allegations of misconduct. But he failed to attend subsequent hearings, claiming a back problem prevented him from travelling.

He resigned by e-mail 20 minutes before a rescheduled hearing on October 28, 2005.

An Aberdeen employment tribunal dismissed his claim for unfair constructive dismissal. It said he resigned before being sacked and was unable to show he had been forced to do so.

He had claimed he had resigned because of the way he was treated by the council and that its investigation had been “predicated on his guilt”.

The tribunal heard he had been reluctant to provide them with his address details, bank account details and had failed to contact his superviser by phone despite repeated requests.

It is understood the council has now put in place new measures to ensure references are genuine and up to date.

A spokesman said: “It is difficult for the council to comment in any detail, given the need to protect the confidentiality of clients and the possibility of further legal action.

“However, in the interests of transparency, I can confirm that an internal investigation of the recruitment process Mr Johnstone went through was carried out, resulting in a number of recommendations. These were fully implemented.

“As the tribunal’s judgment notes, an investigation into conduct was also completed. A matter was brought to the attention of the police, who took no further action.”

Dundee City Council said it was unable to comment on individual cases.

Mr Johnstone could not be contacted last night.