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.

Aberdeen social service worker issued warning after ‘abusing position’ by sending inappropriate messages

The Shetland-based social service worker has been issued a warning from the Scottish Social Services Council.
A Shetland social service worker has been issued a warning from the Scottish Social Services Council. Image: Shutterstock/ Fizkes.

A social worker from Aberdeen has been issued with a warning after sending inappropriate messages and lying about his past employment.

John Mackland’s string of lies kept him employed in the social work sector despite him losing past jobs for his inappropriate behaviour.

The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) found evidence which led them to decide Mr Mackland’s fitness to practice was impaired.

He was found to have “breached trust” on more than one occasion by sending “inappropriate” text messages to both a colleague and a service user.

While working as a senior practitioner for VSA in Peterculter in January 2018, Mr Mackland sent a text to a colleague which was “sexually motivated”.

The report says he wrote: “I’m thinking of you wearing something and it’s distracting me, don’t tell anyone.”

In July of the same year, while employed as an agency worker at Children 1st in Aberdeen, he used his personal mobile to send messages to a “vulnerable” service user – including a message saying “U OK?” and a picture of the fictional character Snow White.

The SSSC report states: “Social service workers must work with users of services in a professional manner and not attempt to form inappropriate relationships with them.

“By acting in such a manner towards a service user you abused your position as a social service worker and breached the trust and confidence of a vulnerable service user.

“Your behaviour blurred professional boundaries in place to help protect service users and social service workers.”

‘A pattern of dishonest behaviour’

Evidence was also found that Mr Mackland lied in order to obtain a social worker job with Aberdeen City Council in August 2018.

In his application, he failed to declare that his employment with VSA and SCP Recruitment had ended due to him being fired.

Further, he was not registered with the SSSC as a social worker while employed by the council between May and August 2019, which means he was not entitled to hold the role.

He also failed to say that he was under investigation by the SSSC in connection with the allegations which arose during his time at Children 1st.

The report read: “Your behaviour prevented a prospective employer from being able to fully assess your suitability for the role; or undertake necessary risk assessments in respect of the risks you may have posed to people who use services.

“The behaviour forms a sustained pattern of dishonest behaviour.”

Mr Wheeler was given a warning to stay on his registration for a period of 18 months. He must also complete training and submit a reflective account to the SSSC.