A social worker who sent inappropriate and offensive emails to colleagues and friends has left her job at Hammersmith and Fulham Council after being found guilty of misconduct.
Kim Brown was employed as a senior practitioner in the council's safeguarding team when she sent a series of emails containing offensive images and captions which showed 'a lack of respect for diversity and different cultures'.
Emails sent out by Brown between June 2008 and February 2009, to other council employees and external recipients, had titles including 'sub prime mortgages', 'an angel just for you', 'group hug' and 'piano striper'.
A YouTube video titled 'Piano striper' shows a naked man on stage playing a cloth keyboard with his genitalia – although the council would not confirm whether this related to the email sent by the social worker.
Brown was brought before the conduct committee of the General Social Care Council (GSCC) on December 13, where she admitted misconduct and expressed remorse for her actions.
A report by the committee said some of the images and captions contained within the emails were 'plainly offensive and inappropriate' and that Brown's conduct had 'crossed a line'.
But the GSCC also found that Brown had not acted in a way which directly compromised service users and had sent the emails over a relatively short space of time.
The committee decided not to suspend or remove Brown from the social care register and instead gave her a formal admonishment, with the caution remaining on her professional record for one year.
The report said: "In reaching these findings the committee took into account the fact that in stressful jobs, such as being a registered social worker, employees may sometimes engage in an element of casual humour; but in this case the committee found that the registrant's conduct crossed a line, with some of the images showing a lack of respect for diversity and different cultures."
The committee found that by emanating from her work account, Brown's emails tended to 'bring the wider profession of social work into disrepute'. But it also noted her record of good work, and a number of testimonials submitted on her behalf.
A council spokeswoman confirmed that action had been taken following the hearing and that Brown no longer works for the authority, but would not say whether she had been sacked or had left of her own accord.
