A residential child care worker from Powys has been removed from the Register of Social Care Workers after a Social Care Wales hearing found his fitness to practise was currently impaired.
Jamie Neil Saunders was accused of acting in an inappropriate and aggressive manner towards two vulnerable young people in his care in September 2018.
In CCTV footage shown during the hearing, Mr Saunders was seen pulling one of the young people off a window sill, pinning the young person to the floor and then pulling the young person back to the floor when the young person attempted to escape.
In another incident captured on CCTV and shown during the hearing, Mr Saunders could be seen pushing another young person and holding the young person up against a wall by the neck.
Having considered the evidence, the panel decided that Mr Saunders’s fitness to practise was currently impaired because of serious misconduct.
Explaining its decision, the panel said: “Mr Saunders did not show any insight or remorse or any ownership of his actions when spoken to about the issue by his employer. He sought to justify his actions as reasonable restraint and this, in our view, puts his integrity in some question.
“This was without question deplorable behaviour and fell well short of what is properly expected of a residential child care worker. Behaving violently, as Mr Saunders did, amounts to a breach of a fundamental tenet of social care practice.”
The panel decided to remove Mr Saunders from the Register, saying: “We regard the actions taken by Mr Saunders as being serious enough to warrant the imposition of a Removal Order… We have also concluded that a Removal Order is necessary to protect the public and the wider public interest.”
Mr Saunders was not present at the one-day hearing, which was held remotely over Zoom last week.