[2025] UKUT 219 (AAC)

The second allegation relates to the medication incident on 2 February 2020 and is based on two findings by the DBS, namely that the Appellant failed to provide James with his morning medication (Finding 4); and that she failed to notify the next live-in carer [Karen] during their handover, or the on-call person at [the care agency], that she had not given James his morning medication (Finding 5).

There is only limited evidence about this incident. Aside from the Appellant’s own written (and oral) evidence, there are only two documents of note. The first is a note that Nicola from the care agency made, recording the details that Karen provided in her complaint to the agency (made on 3 February 2020) about the poor handover the previous day. The second is a detailed minute of an investigatory meeting Nicola held with the Appellant on 6 February 2020. This process resulted in the care agency giving the Appellant what was described by the employer as a verbal warning (p.71). In one sense, and strictly speaking, a ‘verbal warning’ could be either written or oral. However, as a matter of common usage we take this to mean the Appellant was given an oral rather than a written warning by her employer – certainly there is no evidence in the appeal file of a written warning. The employer’s referral to the DBS described (in answer to a question about previous disciplinary action) how the Appellant had “missed administering a client’s medication during a handover, investigatory meeting held. Retrained in medication” (p.49).