Prison counselling charity under inquiry following unfair dismissal

Robina Husain-Naviatti lost her job at Forensic Therapies after raising questions about 300,000 of missing funds

A charity providing counselling services at UK prisons is to be investigated by the Charity Commission over allegations of financial impropriety and possible embezzlement involving public funds after a whistle-blower won her case for unfair dismissal.

Robina Husain-Naviatti, the former deputy director of Forensic Therapies, which has provided "offence-focused" counselling and psychotherapy to inmates at HMP Brixton, Pentonville, Holloway and Wandsworth, was awarded 47,580 in compensation after being unfairly dismissed when she raised concerns over 300,000 of "missing funds" from the Cabinet Office.

In 2008, she alerted her boss and trustees that a 535,000 Cabinet Office grant for a project at Holloway, which she was managing, had been recorded as only 240,000 in a business plan.

When Husain-Naviatti confronted the charity's director, Steve Morris about the "missing funds" he said he couldn't remember how much funding the cabinet Offfice had pledged, which she found implausible given that it was the largest amount of funding Forensic Therapies had received and he had spoken about it regularly.

She also raised concerns that the Cabinet Office and another charity had unwittingly both paid for her 35,000 salary, suggesting that it may have been duplicated and "siphoned off or otherwise misapplied", an employment tribinal heard.

When, frustrated at a lack of response, Husain-Naviatti raised her concerns officially in a grievence procedure, she was suspended and then sacked six months later.

A judgment, at Watford employment tribunal, found that she was unfairly dismissed. It accepted that her disclosures about financial impropriety were made in good faith and recommended that the Charity Commission fully investigate her claims.

Following the judgment, Husain-Naviatti, a trained psychotherapist and mediator, said: "All I'd ever wanted was! the tru th. I had sincerely held suspicions of financial impropriety and I wanted it to be investigated properly. The way I was treated because of that was a shock to me. I was victimised, harrassed and ultimately lost my livelihood for daring to raise serious concerns."

Her solicitor, Shah Qureshi, said that whistleblowers were a "vital check against complacency and cover-ups", recognised by the law. He said: "This judgment sends out a signal to charities that they are in a position of trust and must act with propriety at all times, otherwise public confidence can be damaged.'

"My client suffered horrendously for raising her concerns in good faith. Questions remain regarding the use of these funds and it is incumbent upon the Charity Commission as recommended by the employment tribunal that a full and thorough investigaion is carried out."

A Charity Commission spokesperson said: "We are aware of the recent employment tribunal of a former employee of Forensic Therapies Ltd (registered charity no. 1114599) and are currently considering concerns that have been raised with us about the charity."

"Concerns have previously been raised with the Commission about the charity and we are now looking again at this matter."

No-one from Forensic Therapies could be contacted by the Guardian today.

The charity's trustees put it into liquidation before the case began.


guardian.co.uk Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Britons in Egypt: Foreign Office planning 'for all eventualities'

Image
As street protests continue the UK government announces it is putting contingency plans in place for its citizens The government is working on contingency plans to ensure the safety of the 20,000 Britons who are on holiday in Egypt as tensions in the country continue to escalate. In a statement to the commons , the Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt said that the government was planning "for all eventualities" as the massive street protests stretched into a seventh day . But the Foreign Office (FCO) would not comment on whether the evacuation of British citizens was being considered. Burt said that most of the Britons currently in Egypt were in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh where no serious unrest has been reported with around 10,000 others elsewhere in Egypt. "The situation on Egypt is still very uncertain," said Burt. "The safety of our citizens is out top priority. We are putting in place contingency plans to ensure that we are prepared for all ...
Keep reading

James Blunt gets mother's backing in 'posh pop' row

Image
Jane Blount says Harrow-educated son has faced 'harsh criticism', amid claims musicians are too middle class James Blunt's mother today waded into the debate about whether pop stars these days are too posh, emailing the BBC to complain that her Harrow-educated son was subject to "harsh criticism" because of his privileged background. The suggestion that at least 60% of contemporary chart pop and rock acts feature former public school pupils was first raised in a recent issue of the music magazine The Word . The rise of privately educated performers such as Lily Allen, Florence Welch and Chris Martin, it was suggested, spelled the end of working-class guitar heroes. According to the magazine's editor, Mark Ellen, in the past the rich were not interested in popular arts. "If they dabbled in the performing arts at all," he wrote, "it would be within the highbrow ghettos: opera, ballet, classical theatre. In the past 10 years, the well-heeled young...
Keep reading

NHS applauded for boost in quality of hospital care

Image
British Medical Journal pinpoints areas of improvement in safety standards The quality and safety of much of the care offered by the NHS is good and getting better, health experts report in tomorrow's British Medical Journal. Researchers said: "Baseline performance across hospitals was already high on many criteria relating to quality, leaving little room for improvement". They cited a strong performance by the NHS in areas such as stopping blood clots, improving handwashing by staff, monitoring seriously ill patients' vital signs, reducing hospital-acquired infections, and giving steroids promptly to those with breathing problems. David Cameron and the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, have recently criticised the NHS for not offering the same quality of care in key areas, such as cancer and heart problems, as other European countries, notably France, although doctors and the King's Fund thinktank have challenged their claims. NHS Health Denis Campbell guardian....
Keep reading