Chloe Moffat’s parents to seek accountability from Treasury officials — The Guardian

In the United Kingdom, the parents of 26-year-old Chloe Moffat will seek to hold Treasury employees accountable if their contribution to their daughter’s death is established. They are due to meet with the department’s permanent secretary, James Bowler, The Guardian reports.

In August, a coroner found that the Treasury had “materially contributed” to Moffat’s death. She was summoned without warning to a disciplinary meeting over anonymous complaints concerning the alleged disclosure of confidential work information. She denied the allegations.

Details of the disciplinary meeting

According to the coroner’s findings, managers did not allow Moffat to bring a colleague for support to the meeting, did not inform her in advance, and did not explain whether she faced dismissal. Her access to the director’s email was also blocked and her work duties were changed, although the meeting was described as informal.

After the conversation, Moffat was devastated and believed that she would lose her job. The following morning, she took her own life. Hearings noted that she had worked as a personal assistant at the Treasury for almost three years, loved her job and had an impeccable employment record.

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Her father, David Moffat, said the family wants to establish whether managers and human resources staff have been held accountable. According to him, the coroner did not specifically demand this, but it is a matter of principle for the family.

New Treasury rules

The Treasury fully accepted the findings of the coroner’s report on preventing future deaths. The department stopped using informal meetings for initial fact-finding in cases involving possible serious misconduct, introduced additional procedural measures and rules to support employee wellbeing.

The new guidance provides employees with the right to bring a companion to a disciplinary meeting, advance notice of the meeting, and information if dismissal is unlikely. The Treasury is also hiring an occupational therapist to support employee wellbeing.

A Treasury spokesperson expressed sympathy to Moffat’s family and friends and said an independent review found that staff had acted in good faith and fulfilled their duty of care.