A&R Team Digest - What to Expect from Fitness to Practice Hearings
What to expect and how to approach them
When your regulator decides that your case needs to proceed to a full fitness to practise hearing, this naturally triggers huge stress and anxiety. For most regulated professionals, this is the first experience they have had of this kind. The process is daunting and complicated.
What happens in the lead up to the hearing?
The regulator will usually issue some case management documents, to establish your availability, whether you plan on calling any witnesses and what your response is to the allegations. You do not have to provide any response to the allegations at this point and can choose to respond once you have received ‘full disclosure’.
Once these documents are filled in, a date will normally be set for the hearing and ‘case management directions’ will be sent to the parties. These will specify when the regulator must disclose their case to you and when you need to respond to this disclosure by.
Can I get advice and representation from BASW?
If you are a BASW member, our Advice and Representation service is available for any issues that arise a month after you joined. We ask members to get in touch as soon as they know they have been referred to their regulator – the sooner we are aware of it, the better the advice and representation we can offer.
Members who have just joined are not eligible for representation but can access a range of guide sheets written by our team to assist with providing a response to the regulator and how to approach a hearing.
They also include advice for managing common workplace issues that might crop up.
What is ‘disclosure’ and what do I need to do in response?
Disclosure is when the regulator provides you with all the evidence that they plan to use in your case. This will usually include a statement of case, statements from witnesses that the regulator intends to call and a bundle of supporting documentary evidence that they plan to refer to during the hearing.
You need to read all disclosure documents thoroughly and ensure that you are fully aware of the evidence against you. You should provide a response to the allegations and send the regulator any evidence that you plan on using to support your case. You should also provide statements from any witnesses that you plan on calling to give evidence at the hearing.
What should I include in my response statement?
This is very dependent on whether you are admitting or denying the allegations. It is highly recommended that you get advice on your response statement, as the contents of this statement can strongly affect the outcome of your case.
What happens at the hearing?
A panel will hear your case. Some regulators have a legally qualified member of the panel; others use a separate legal adviser who advises the panel on the law and procedure.
The regulator will present their case first and will call their witnesses. You can ask questions of the witnesses. Following this, it is your turn to present your case. The regulator and the panel will ask you questions relating to the allegations and your response statement. Both parties will be given the opportunity to summarise their case to the panel in the form of a ‘closing statement’.
When both parties have given their evidence, the panel will retire to reach a decision on whether the allegations have been proven. If the allegations are not proven, the hearing will end at this point. If they are found proven, there are further states for the panel to consider. They will first consider ‘misconduct and impairment’. This means they will be considering whether your failings amounted to ‘misconduct’ (a serious professional error) and whether your fitness to practise is currently impaired. If they consider that you have remediated, they may not find impairment. If impairment is found, the panel will then go on to consider what sanction they issue.
What sanction might I get?
This is very dependent on the seriousness of the allegations and the level of insight and remediation the panel find that you have demonstrated. The panel can decide to take no further action, issue a warning, put conditions on you being able to practice your profession or suspend you from the register for a period. They can also remove you from the register.
Do I have to attend the hearing?
We strongly advise that you do! Attending a hearing is stressful, particularly when you are giving evidence. But if you don’t attend, the panel has the right to view this negatively and it will affect the outcome in your case. The hearing is your opportunity to present your case – if you don’t attend, you won’t get to do this and the panel will make a determination on the evidence before them alone.
Why Join BASW?
Joining your professional association not only provides you with employment protection and peace of mind that you'll be supported if you are under investigation, but it also opens doors to an array of additional resources, coaching, mentoring, training and networks that will help you to advance your career.
