Children’s day care manager who stole £4000 struck off by social work

A children’s day care manager who embezzled almost £4000 worth of fees paid by parents has been told she will never work in social services again.

Margaret Gaughan, of Kinglassie, Fife, avoided jail for stealing £3900 while in charge of finances at Bowhill Out of School Club in nearby Cardenden after Fife Council mistakenly underpaid her.

Appearing earlier this year at Dunfermline Sheriff Court, the 46-year-old was told to carry out 200 hours of community service for her crime and pay £1000 of the money back.

However, bosses at the Scottish Social Services Council said they had no option but to strike her off their register for good.

Ms Gaughan had been employed by the local authority since 2001, when she took up a post as a play worker at the club before being promoted to the manager’s position in 2009.

It was then she was given responsibility for the group’s finances but officials soon noticed financial irregularities and suspended Ms Gaughan following an investigation in April last year.

When she was dismissed two months later, she claimed she had simply “borrowed” the money – which she first began taking less than a month into her new job – and had intended to give it back.

She told Fife Council bosses: “I was not thinking sensibly. I’m too ashamed to talk about it.”

At a hearing in Dundee on Wednesday, Scottish Social Services Council solicitor Sally Dow insisted there was no option but to permanently ban her from working in the field.

She said: “Miss Gaughan admitted that she borrowed the money from the fees the parents were paying.

“What she did was fundamentally incompatible with being a social service worker and I would suggest removal (from the SSSC register) is necessary.

“This is justified in the public interest to ensure continued trust and confidence in the register and the council.”

Mrs Dow added: “Miss Gaughan was in financial difficulty at the time, particularly due to errors in her pay from Fife Council, which has been confirmed.

“She wouldn’t ask for help, she wanted to sort things out by herself. She admitted she had done wrong and that she was ashamed of her actions.

“Her work in relation to the children was exemplary. She had good attendance and a good work ethos. Because she was such a good employee, the situation was even more difficult for all concerned.”

Ms Gaughan, who did not attend the proceedings, also claimed she was suffering from stress due to ill health in her family. She told officials that she had wanted to take sick leave but felt she was unable to due to her financial situation.