UK Treasury must change disciplinary process after worker’s suicide, mother says

Chloe Moffat, 26, ‘loved her job’ and had an ‘exemplary employment record’, her inquest heard. View image in fullscreen Chloe Moffat, 26, ‘loved her job’ and had an ‘exemplary employment record’, her inquest heard. UK Treasury must change disciplinary process after worker’s suicide, mother says Chloe Moffat, 26, killed herself day after meeting about anonymous complaint in which she was not allowed to bring a colleague 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 “loved her job” and had an “exemplary employment record”, the coroner at her inquest heard this week. She was in line for promotion, and awarded a bonus for good work, which she never heard about before her death. At the inquest at the Surrey coroners’ court, witnesses said Moffat was driven to “distress” 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. The process left her “devastated” and convinced she had lost her job. The day after the meeting, Moffat killed herself. Her mother, Anne, said: “The 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.” She is calling for the Treasury to “require an assessment of employees’ mental welfare in disciplinary proceedings” and that “where serious or gross misconduct is alleged, the matter is treated as formal from the outset and the accused is informed of their rights”. The court heard that Moffat was called into a meeting with her line manager, Kimberly Aldrich, the head of group management for international economics, and a senior manager, Elizabeth Farmer, the head of global issues. She was not given prior notice of the meeting’s subject or of Farmer’s attendance. 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’s email inbox. She was told her access to her director’s diary and email would be temporarily removed. Farmer told the court that Moffat asked whether she would lose her job. “I said I couldn’t predict any outcome of any potential investigation,” she said. Aldrich said Moffat was “shocked, crying at points, distressed, overwhelmed” during the meeting. The court heard that Moffat also asked for her best friend at work, Helena Cawley, at various points during the meeting. “We felt this would be inappropriate,” Farmer said. The court heard Aldrich had been assigned as Moffat’s “pastoral care” despite being her line manager, and that sh