Wrexham residential child care worker receives two-year suspension order

A Wrexham residential child care worker has been given a two-year suspension order for failing to hand over cash donations for the Nightingale House Hospice charity within a reasonable timescale.

Samantha Clarke received the suspension order after a three-day Care Council Fitness to Practise hearing at Beaufort Park Hotel in Mold earlier this month.

Ms Clarke was charged with failing to make sure that charity cash donations collected from the public during a World Book Day event in March 2016 were promptly handed over to the nominated charity and then lying about it to her employers.

When Ms Clarke was asked by her employers more than a month later if the money had been given to the charity, Ms Clarke told them she’d personally delivered it – despite not having done so. She continued to provide false information during an investigation into her conduct.

The committee found that Ms Clarke’s actions called her honesty and integrity into question and all four charges brought against her were proved.

Ms Clarke was not present at the hearing, but provided a witness statement and a response to the charges.