Suing for defamation of character

[privatetrey]

I work as a social worker in child protection and one of my families accused me of assaulting their child and it's not true and I was wondering when investigation is done and NFA can I sue the parents for doing this to me. Where do l stand with this as I feel they coached the child to say this due to their situation they are in. Do l have any basis on taking them to court at all. Until they accept the truth I am not happy with an NFA outcome as they have ruined my life.
Anyone who can help me I will appreciate it.
Thank you.

[EXC]

Re: Suing for defamation of character

What is the NFA?

[Bossspud]

Re: Suing for defamation of character

I assume no further action

[des8]

Re: Suing for defamation of character

Having been accused, were you advised of your right to see a solicitor so you could properly defend yourself?

Regarding suing the parents for defamation (either libel or slander) you will have to show that the accusation has damaged your reputation.
As the matter involves a child, knowledge of the accusation and subsequent investigation should be confined to a relatively small number of professional people, who will appreciate the meaning of no further action.
I think you might have problems proving the accusations have damaged your reputation, but although you were extremely upset by them, injured feelings are not proof of defamation.

The other point to consider, is what are you looking for?
Defamation cases are expensive to fight, and would the other party (in the event of they lose and you were awarded costs) be able to meet your costs?

[privatetrey]

Re: Suing for defamation of character

Yes I did have a solicitor. I just thought of this last night.
I thought it is defamation as everyone I work with and other professionals who were involved were aware of this. I don't want money I want some sort of community service unpaid work for them to do because it's not a good feeling being accused interviewed by police and not being able to work with some of your families, treated as risk to other families.
I wanted to find out what options I have. I just thought maybe if there was some sort of punishment maybe in the future they will think twice before trowing accusations around.

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And yes NFA is no further action sorry am replying late for some reason am not getting notifications of replies on email😞

[wales01man]

Re: Suing for defamation of character

Would suing for defamation be a civil matter where a community service order could not be imposed only in a criminal case could that happen

[privatetrey]

Re: Suing for defamation of character

Alright I see what u mean. I guess there nothing l can do then,
If the parents accept lying can't they be charged for wasting police time? Would I be able to do something about it then?
It's not the money it's making them take responsibility for lying..😞
I wonder if anyone knows if this will remain on my record that I was accused of this
Iam becoming to think am in the wrong job😏😏not great going through this

[des8]

Re: Suing for defamation of character

The criminal offence of making false allegations is covered under the common law offence of perverting the course of public justice. The actual wording of the offence is 'Where a person deliberately makes a false allegation about an offence in order to have a person arrested.' This would amount to attempting to pervert the course of public justice. Consideration could also be given to an offence under section 5(2) of the Criminal Law Act 1967, which covers wasteful employment of the police, better known as wasting police time.
I doubt this will happen in your case, because it would not be deemed in the public interest as it might sway anyone genuinely concerned about an adult's behaviour not to report it.
I believe it will remain on your record. I have vague memory of someone in a similar situation reporting that the incident was kept on their record.

[EXC]

Re: Suing for defamation of character

Defamation cases are expensive to fight, and would the other party (in the event of they lose and you were awarded costs) be able to meet your costs?

And conversely if the claimant lost they would be liable for the defendent's costs. Even if the claimant is only claiming say £100 in damages, defamation claims have to be heard in the High Court where, unlike the small claims court, adverse costs are routinely awarded.

[leclerc]

Re: Suing for defamation of character

Alright I see what u mean. I guess there nothing l can do then,
If the parents accept lying can't they be charged for wasting police time?
If they then go on to accuse another social worker who took up the case of the same thing then potentially your case might show a pattern of behaviour. However, any allegation of assault has to be investigated. I'm sure you know that in child protection any allegation must be looked into and unfortunately, in your case the police were involved. Other agencies working on this case would have to know to ensure that (1) you were not working with them as that would make things worse; (2) to protect the child who is at the centre of social care involvement and (3) so that the allegation can be investigated.

Would I be able to do something about it then?i
I find it strange in respects to giving advice to a social worker who is accusing a parent of lying. (I've been on the other end where social workers have been less than truthful). Ultimately, if they do that to one person then they might do that to your replacement. In your line of business you have to accept that parents will not always be truthful especially on cases where children might potentially end up away from the parents case. You might be angry but I am afraid it is part of the job that you do and you have to accept that other things will be said about you in the future when you work with social care.

It's not the money it's making them take responsibility for lying..
I wonder if anyone knows if this will remain on my record that I was accused of this
Iam becoming to think am in the wrong jobnot great going through this

My understanding is that the allegation, even if not proven, would remain on your HR file merely because if it was to happen again that there is a potential to show a pattern. I'm not suggesting for one moment you are guilty but that child protection in this country does get a bad name. The good thing is that as far as we know, there is not an investigation by the HCPC.

Are you suspended from work at the moment?
Have you simply been reassigned away from this case?

[Openlaw15]

Re: Suing for defamation of character

I work as a social worker in child protection and one of my families accused me of assaulting their child and it's not true and I was wondering when investigation is done and NFA can I sue the parents for doing this to me. Where do l stand with this as I feel they coached the child to say this due to their situation they are in. Do l have any basis on taking them to court at all. Until they accept the truth I am not happy with an NFA outcome as they have ruined my life.
Anyone who can help me I will appreciate it.
Thank you.

The first question, do the parents have any money to sue them? If they're impecunious, it's pointless suing them. I would hazard a guess and say lots of families who have no money, or seemingly more likely than families with lots of money, requiring social-work interventions are not likely to have enough money to be sued. It must be an extremely stressful time for families to have the state frequent their private lives just because X makes Y allegations. I am not saying that social workers do not do a brilliant job in general but my view is a legal point and that is the modern state, including social workers' autonomy is just really too broad and some may say too powerful to effectively regulate. The Social Worker's role tasks could potentially destroy more lives than they ameliorate. The secret courts are another elephant in the room...unless the facts are proportionate with threats of harm it should be in the public interest for court hearing to be made public and thereby subject to fair scrutiny where it is fair and justiciable to do so.

[Openlaw15]

Re: Suing for defamation of character

The criminal offence of making false allegations is covered under the common law offence of perverting the course of public justice. The actual wording of the offence is 'Where a person deliberately makes a false allegation about an offence in order to have a person arrested.' This would amount to attempting to pervert the course of public justice. Consideration could also be given to an offence under section 5(2) of the Criminal Law Act 1967, which covers wasteful employment of the police, better known as wasting police time.
I doubt this will happen in your case, because it would not be deemed in the public interest as it might sway anyone genuinely concerned about an adult's behaviour not to report it.
I believe it will remain on your record. I have vague memory of someone in a similar situation reporting that the incident was kept on their record.

This is the issue; is it a deliberate false allegation of assault? It may have been the parents' view that their child was assaulted, but criminal law is different when defining like crimes. Criminal assault is different to battery, where the former (assault) relates to at least threatening conduct by the person, ie X raises fist to Y in a threating manner, whereas the latter (battery) is where the assault leads to battery, ie some form of physical conduct in addition which is criminal. This is why the legalese is 'assault and battery.'