Treasury ‘materially contributed’ to suicide of personal assistant, coroner finds
Summary
A coroner found that the UK Treasury contributed to the death of Chloe Moffat, a personal assistant who took her own life after a flawed disciplinary process. The coroner warned that similar handling of such cases in the civil service could lead to future deaths and will send a report to top officials to help prevent this.Key Facts
- Chloe Moffat, 26, worked at the Treasury for nearly three years and had a good job record.
- She faced an informal meeting about an anonymous complaint accusing her of sharing colleague information, which she denied.
- The meeting did not follow Treasury policy, such as no prior notice and no right to have a support person present.
- Moffat was not reassured her job was safe and had some responsibilities changed during the process.
- The day after the meeting, Moffat died by suicide.
- The coroner said the way the Treasury handled the situation caused her distress and contributed to her death.
- The coroner will send a prevention of future deaths report to the head of the civil service, Treasury, and Acas (a workplace dispute service).
- The Treasury called informal meetings "standard practice," a point the coroner found concerning because it risks serious accusations not being properly handled.
Read the Full Article
This is a fact-based summary from The Actual News. Click below to read the complete story directly from the original source.
