Rachel Meade - it's a win!

That SWE statement is a real “fuck you”, isn’t it?!?

Congratulations, Rachel and team - well deserved win after the hell you have been put through.

Well done Rachel and her team and well done those who helped fund her case. The mechanisms of the law would not have been able to work without ordinary women helping in this way. I think TRAs forgot that while they could try to terrorise women into silence, we have our own money these days and could use this to fight back and effect change.

I hope SWE have some kind of governing board that read those comments in horror. A 12 year old could interpret them as we don’t like this judgement and we disagree and we aren’t apologising to anyone and we will keep up our amazing work bullying our staff for all the right reasons.

This case meant so much to me I am so pleased for Rachel and her team. Thank you for putting yourself through this. You have helped all of us. Enjoy the money, it seems trifling for years of hell.

So pleased to hear this. Congratulations Rachel, Naomi and team. As an ex social worker I have been horrified what has been going on in many Social Services and the silencing of Social workers. A case that was well worth digging for.

Well done Rachel! Amazing news! 💪🏼⭐️

Brilliant that they've been told to re-train all concerned.

They, and every else, are going to understand the bloody law, whether they like it or not.

Well done Rachel.

FFS. If SWE had either the legal nous or common decency their only response should have been "it's a fair cop guv', you've got us bang to rights and no mistake". instead of which, this mealy mouthed self serving heap of bollocks tells you they still, even now, dont get it.

Lovely end to the weekend. Well done Rachel and her team.

SWE are proper gits with their statement, no apology or admission of wrongdoing

“We recognise that this has been a particularly difficult case for those involved, conducted against a backdrop of debate on many issues within society in relation to freedom of expression. Our professional standards reflect the diversity of social work practice and the positive impact it has on people’s lives, families and communities.
“We will continue our work in this area and clearly articulate the reasons when there are reasonable grounds to investigate a social worker’s fitness to practise.”

Westminster city council were a little more fulsome

“We have received the findings of the remedy hearing and will need to take a little time to digest before responding more fully. We have apologised to Rachel Meade and the points which emerged during the tribunal and remedy hearing are an important and helpful guide in clarifying what is acknowledged to be a rapidly evolving area of employment law.”

Excellent news. Vindication. I wish Rachel hadn't had to go through this, and I hope this means that other people will not suffer the same sort of ordeal in future.

Archive copy: https://archive.ph/GqeSF

Great news, courageous and well deserved

Excellent news.

Wow. That’s excellent, especially the judges scathing words to Westminster Council and SWE.

Well done Rachel and team.

Amazing, well done Rachel and team for what you have done for GC women. We thank you.

This is huge - she hasn't just won for herself, this is going to help others as well;

''In what lawyers described as an unprecedented move by a court to award exemplary damages against a regulator, an employment tribunal called for both the council and the watchdog to train their staff in the principles of freedom of speech.''

''As well has making the damages award, the tribunal recommended that the council act within six months to ensure “that all of its managers and human resources staff receive training on freedom of expression and protected belief”.

''It also recommended that Social Work England should within six months “ensure that all its triage staff, investigation staff and case examiners shall receive training on freedom of expression and protected belief”.
https://archive.ph/oiCFn

Brilliant news! I’m sorry Rachel was subject to this abuse 💐

Congratulations Rachel and team!

Social Work England make themselves sound proper weasels with that statement.

Well done Rachel, Naomi et al.

Let’s hope this makes other organisations think twice before piling into the idea that free speech only applies to some.

With a bit of luck this will serve as a shot across the bows of other professional and statutory bodies trying to police their members' views on the matter. I'm thinking about the physiotherapy body that's been mentioned a few times on here, for example.

Well done, Rachel and your team. And I’m
delighted that you have been awarded the compensation you deserve.

Thank god there are still some checks and balance mechanisms in our society that still work. I can't express what a relief that is. It's the only thing that gives hope that in a generations time some of the extreme limits of this ideology will have been laid bare for the damaging one sided battle for rights territory that it is.

the wheels on the bus...come off, again.