Aberdeenshire care home worker struck off after stealing £1,140 from vulnerable resident and employer Bredero

A care home worker in Aberdeenshire who stole £1,140 from a vulnerable resident and her employer has been struck off.

The Scottish Social Services Council panel found Pauline Phillip from Banchory withdrew cash from bank accounts belonging to the resident and Inspire Bredero Drive on 18 separate occasions over a seven-month period.

Phillip was caught when a colleague, known only as ZZ in the fitness to practice hearing, noted a pattern of two withdrawals and then only one being noted in the cash sheets. An internal investigation was launched and it was then reported to the police.

The panel heard at hearings between November 2025 and May this year that Phillip stole £800 from the vulnerable user and £340 from Bredero in transactions of between £40 and £100 between November 2021 and June 2022.

A statement from the panel said: “It has been established that you withdrew significant sums of money from the bank accounts of both your employer and resident AA, a person you were trusted to support, and failed to sign the full amounts into the relevant cash sheets over the course of around seven months.

“The inference the panel took from that was that you did so for your own financial gain.

“Your behaviour caused financial as well as emotional harm to those involved. The panel concluded that your actions were premeditated and deliberate.

“Your conduct falls well below that which is expected of a social care worker.”

Phillip denied the allegations and her representative argued that it was down to poor record keeping.

But the panel found it was “highly improbable” that someone else was responsible for the missing cash and ruled her fitness to practice was impaired.