\n<\/p>\n
The mother of a young woman who took her own life after facing disciplinary proceedings at the Treasury has called on the government department to change its practices.<\/p>\n
Chloe Moffat, 26, had worked at the Treasury as a personal assistant for almost three years. She \u201cloved her job\u201d and had an \u201cexemplary employment record\u201d, the coroner at her inquest heard this week.<\/p>\n
She was in line for promotion, and awarded a bonus for good work, which she never heard about before her death.<\/p>\n
At the inquest at the Surrey coroners\u2019 court, witnesses said Moffat was driven to \u201cdistress\u201d by a meeting about an anonymous complaint at work. During the disciplinary process, the court heard, she was not reassured that her job was safe, even though she was unlikely to be dismissed, and that she was not allowed to have a third party of her choice in the meeting.<\/p>\n
The process left her \u201cdevastated\u201d and convinced she had lost her job. The day after the meeting, Moffat killed herself.<\/p>\n
Her mother, Anne, said: \u201cThe evidence establishes a clear sequence of events. Had Chloe been properly supported and advised of her rights before the meeting, she would not have been so devastated and isolated.\u201d<\/p>\n
She is calling for the Treasury to \u201crequire an assessment of employees\u2019 mental welfare in disciplinary proceedings\u201d and that \u201cwhere serious or gross misconduct is alleged, the matter is treated as formal from the outset and the accused is informed of their rights\u201d.<\/p>\n
The court heard that Moffat was called into a meeting with her line manager and a senior manager, the Treasury\u2019s head of global issues. She was not given prior notice of the meeting\u2019s subject or of the senior manager\u2019s attendance.<\/p>\n
At the meeting, Moffat was told there had been an anonymous complaint made that she had shared confidential information about colleagues, which she had access to because she ran her director\u2019s email inbox. She was told her access to her director\u2019s diary and email would be temporarily removed.<\/p>\n
The senior manager told the court that Moffat asked whether she would lose her job. \u201cI said I couldn\u2019t predict any outcome of any potential investigation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Moffat\u2019s line manager said she was \u201cshocked, crying at points, distressed, overwhelmed\u201d during the meeting. The court heard that Moffat also asked for her best friend at work, Helena Cawley, at various points during the meeting. \u201cWe felt this would be inappropriate,\u201d the senior manager said.<\/p>\n
The court heard her line manager had been assigned as Moffat\u2019s \u201cpastoral care\u201d despite her direct oversight role, and that she was told not to speak to friends about the allegations and potential investigation.<\/p>\n
Asked by the coroner Anna Crawford why Moffat was not offered a friend, trade union representative or other colleague in the meeting, the senior manager said: \u201cAny alternative attendee would have made the meeting feel more formal.\u201d<\/p>\n
The coroner also asked: \u201cGiven these allegations, that were potentially serious, were going to be raised with her, was any consideration given to notifying her so she could prepare herself, seek support and respond?\u201d<\/p>\n
The senior manager answered: \u201cNo, this could cause unnecessary stress.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added that Moffat denied the allegations and so she \u201cstarted to draft a letter\u201d notifying Moffat of a formal investigation. \u201cI was going to wait to send it until [the line manager] and I had spoken to Chloe to see how she was,\u201d she said. Moffat died the following day.<\/p>\n
Friends and family of Moffat say she was \u201cconvinced\u201d she was going to be dismissed. Cawley said she received a text from Moffat shortly after this meeting, which read: \u201cHelena, I am going to be fired.\u201d They met in St James\u2019s Park, in central London, where Moffat \u201cbroke down crying\u201d.<\/p>\n
Cawley told the inquest that she \u201creassured Chloe, but she remained distressed\u201d and was \u201cincredibly concerned about the reputational impact\u201d of the allegations.<\/p>\n
Moffat \u201ctook great pride in her work\u201d and \u201cfixed everyone\u2019s problems\u201d, according to friends. \u201cShe never made a mistake,\u201d one colleague noted.<\/p>\n
Many friends attended the coroner\u2019s court in support of Moffat. One told the Guardian that she \u201cnever told a boring story or wore a boring outfit\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Treasury is changing its disciplinary proceedings as a result of Moffat\u2019s death. Karen McDermott, a senior HR adviser at the department, said the Treasury was piloting new advice for staff dealing with disciplinary matters. Lawyers acting for the Treasury added that managers were receiving additional training.<\/p>\n
Moffat\u2019s parents asked whether it was appropriate that she was not told she was unlikely to lose her job, given that she was in such distress. Laura Mcarthur, a senior HR business partner at the Treasury, told the inquest that to do so would have been \u201cunhelpful\u201d at that stage.<\/p>\n
Asked if she would have done anything differently, Moffat\u2019s line manager told the court: \u201cNo, I think we did all we could at the time with the information and advice we were given.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anne Moffat said: \u201cOur hope is that lessons will be learned. The risks must be recognised so no other family will experience a loss like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The inquest continues.<\/p>\n
In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 1-800-273-8255 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The mother of a young woman who took her own life after facing disciplinary proceedings at the Treasury has called on the government department to change its practices. Chloe Moffat, 26, had worked at the Treasury as a personal assistant for almost three years. She \u201cloved her job\u201d and had an \u201cexemplary employment record\u201d, the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[270,2346,12929,4611,3136,745,1217,3111,1438],"class_list":{"0":"post-51023","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-change","9":"tag-civil","10":"tag-disciplinary","11":"tag-mother","12":"tag-process","13":"tag-service","14":"tag-suicide","15":"tag-treasury","16":"tag-workers"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/51024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}