Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

North-east support worker struck off over benefit fraud

The decision to impose a warning was made by the Scottish Social Services Council.
The decision to impose a warning was made by the Scottish Social Services Council.

An Aberdeen support worker has been struck off after claiming more than £17,000 in benefits to which she was not entitled.

Jennifer Morrison admitted the fraud at Aberdeen Sheriff Court last October.

And now, a Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) panel has decided she should be removed from the register.

Morrison had been working in housing support and in the care-at-home service from Bon Accord Care, the city council’s organisation set up to run these amenities.

But, the panel heard she resigned from her post last November, on the morning of a disciplinary hearing.

The SSSC said, as far as they could gather, she no longer worked in the care sector.

Morrison, who lived in Cairncry in Aberdeen at the time of her conviction, admitted claiming £8,040 in housing benefit and £9,860 in widowed parent’s allowance that she was not entitled to.

She failed to notify Aberdeen City Council and The Department For Work And Pensions after she got married.

The court ordered her to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work for her crime.

The SSSC ruled the fraud – carried out between August 2015 and April 2017 – could “best be regarded as opportunist”.

In its ruling, the watchdog added: “You had found yourself in a situation where you could take the honest route, to your financial disadvantage or the dishonest route, to your financial advantage.

“You had chosen the latter.

“You had secured payment of substantial benefits you were not entitled to.

“There was a pattern of dishonest behaviour and a disregard for the law, over a period of 20 months.”

“The public expect care workers to be honest, since they are dealing with vulnerable service users.”

Despite signing a number of documents related to the hearing, Morrison did not attend.

The watchdog ruled she had “voluntarily absented” herself by not contacting them since around the time of her resignation last November.

Morrison was temporarily suspended from practice to allow her time to appeal her striking off.