An Inverness support worker has been struck off after stealing £200 from a vulnerable resident and intending to rob another.
The decision by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) found that Samantha Goldie’s fitness to practise is impaired.
In May this year, the support from home worker was convicted at Inverness Sheriff Court for stealing £200 worth of cash at a property in the city on March 23, 2021.
‘Clear and ongoing public protection risk’
On the same day, she was also convicted of intending to commit theft after being found in an Inverness property on 16 February, 2021 without a lawful authority to be there.
The SSSC found “there is a clear and ongoing public protection risk” if Goldie was to be kept on the register, as social service workers must not “financially abuse people” who use these services.
It added: “The victims of your offending behaviour were two vulnerable people you were trusted to care for.
“Your behaviour would have caused harm to them and represents a serious abuse of trust placed in you by the service users, their families, your employer and the public.”
The SSSC decided a removal order was the most appropriate sanction, stating: “It is both necessary and justified in the public interest and to maintain the continuing trust and confidence in the social service profession and the SSSC as the regulator of the profession.”
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