A CORNWALL Council social worker has been struck off due to misconduct. Bertram Anthony Reid has been removed from the register to practise after concerns were raised that he had accessed a member of the public’s case records multiple times.

It is understood the confidential records were for a female family member of the social worker, who was reported to Social Work England (SWE) by his former employer, the local authority. The complaint was raised by the council in May 2025 and subsequently by a member of the public in June of the same year.

Reid had accessed the records on eight separate occasions between May 14, 2024 and July 19, 2024. When asked by SWE case examiners about his access to the records, the social worker said: “I wanted to check the correct information was in the record.”

It was explained to the social worker that he was “not involved on a professional level … which was not in conjunction with the agreement [the social worker] signed which was not to use the system to access records”. He was told “accessing the record was based upon a personal reason opposed to professionally”.

Cornwall Council also provided a copy of its confidentiality policy which states that “access to personal or confidential information must be on a need-to-know basis and the minimum amount necessary should be used” and “it is strictly forbidden for employees to knowingly browse, search for or look at any information relating to themselves, their own family, friends or other persons, without a legitimate purpose”.

A case report published by SWE states: “The evidence suggests that the social worker had no professional reason to look at the person’s records. Despite this, they accessed their records on a number of occasions.”

He was told: “The matters outlined amount to the statutory ground of misconduct. Your fitness to practise is impaired by reason of misconduct.”

Reid told the case examination: “On reflection I can only describe my account on this incident as I was too emotionally involved. I have no excuse for my acting in a way that I felt that my emotions, at that time, got in the way of my practice.

“I felt that systematically more should have been done. However, looking back on this I should have stepped back and let the system work for the person of concern.”

The case examiners did not consider it to be in the public interest for the matter to be referred to a final hearing and determined that the case could be concluded by way of “accepted disposal”.

In the case report, the examiners stated: “Confidentiality is at the heart of social work and the public must be able to trust that social workers will respect and have due regard to the sensitive information that they have access to. Where found proven, conduct of this nature has the potential to undermine public trust in social workers and to damage the reputation of the profession.

“The case examiners are of the view that in these circumstances, members of the public would expect a finding of impairment.”

Where a social worker is removed from the register, they can only apply to be restored five years after the date the removal order took effect. The adjudicators will decide whether to restore a person to the register. Reid told the examiners in May this year that he had now “completely retired” from social work.

He added: “I have read the case examiners’ decision and the accepted disposal guide. I admit the key facts set out in the case examiner decision and that my fitness to practise is impaired.”

A spokesperson for Cornwall Council told us: “While we’re unable to comment on individual cases, Cornwall Council takes its responsibilities to safeguard the people it supports seriously and expects the highest standards of professional conduct from its workforce.”