A SOCIAL worker from Lancashire facing a series of allegations regarding her conduct has been removed from a professional register.

Susan Pepper is the latest figure from the county social services department to be removed from the register or disciplined after she entered into a voluntary removal agreement with the Health and Care Professions Council.

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Pepper had been facing seven separate charges relating to her conduct between April 2014 and February 2015, while employed by the authority, including organising for her partner to provide tutorial support for two youngsters.

She was accused of asking for payment, for the educational assistance, to be “paid in cash”.

Another set of allegations concerned a third service user, where she was said to have falsified case records, after failing to conduct a required visit and telephone assessment.

Pepper was further said to have failed to carry out a visit for a fourth service user, a young person, and keep fellow staff informed about the outcome of a review meeting. All of the conduct was said to have been “dishonest” and amount to misconduct, with allegations relating to the fourth individual also cited as showing a lack of competence.

A Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) spokesman said: “If the registrant seeks to return to the HCPC register at any time, the application would be treated as if the registrant had been struck off as a result of the allegations.”

Three other social workers, then employed by Lancashire County Council, have been dealt with the health watchdog over the past 12 months or so.

Diane Cleasby, from Burnley, who managed an integrated support and assessment team, was ‘struck off’ after failing to provide adequate protection to a child with a fractured skull. She later failed in a bid to be restored to the register so she could undertake less demanding work.

Her colleague Laura Yates, and Cleasby, were also censured over the case of a family where child abuse imagesporn had been found on a home computer, when it later emerged two children had been abused by their father.

Another colleague, Nighat Rafiq, from Blackburn, was also said to have failed to investigate when a child showed signs of ‘fingertip bruising’. But she was said to have shown insight into her failings and no further action was taken.