ARTICLE – The Sunday Times
Rachel Meade was subjected to harassment by Westminster city council and Social Work England, a judge ruled
CATHERINE BAKSI, JONATHAN AMES – 28 APRIL 2024 – THE SUNDAY TIMES
A social worker who was suspended over her gender critical views has been awarded almost £58,000 in damages from Westminster city council and Social Work England.
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.
Rachel Meade, the social worker, said she was “delighted with such a positive judgement after a such a long and dreadful experience. It’s been a hard fight, but I feel relieved and liberated that justice and freedom of speech has prevailed.”
Meade, from Dartford, Kent, had sued the council and Social Work England in 2022 for harassment and sex discrimination after she was suspended over her belief that a person “cannot change their sex”.
Meade was given a one-year warning by case examiners at Social Work England after the regulator received a complaint from a member of the public in 2020 about posts that she had shared or liked on Facebook. The council then suspended her on charges of gross misconduct before giving her a final written warning.
The regulatory sanction and employer’s warning had both been withdrawn before the tribunal case was heard.
A judge ruled in January that the regulator and council had subjected her to harassment over her gender-critical beliefs by threatening her with fitness-to-practise proceedings and sanctioning her for misconduct.
Meade, 55, said that she had been “completely vindicated” after the employment tribunal’s ruling. She has now been awarded almost £58,000.
Awarding the damages, the tribunal judge, Richard Nicolle, said that Social Work England’s actions constituted a “serious abuse of its power as a regulatory body”.
The judge said that the regulator had “allowed its processes to be subverted to punish and suppress” Meade’s lawful political speech, and to do so on grounds of her protected beliefs. In doing so it had violated her right to free speech as protected under human rights law.
The judge added that the regulator had a “pre-ordained view” that Meade’s beliefs were “unacceptable”.
Meade had told the hearing that she was “made to feel like a criminal for over two years”
MFORSTATER/X
Addressing the responsibility of Westminster city council, the judge said that a decision by officials to suspend the social worker would have “had a very profound effect on her, and would inevitably have fundamentally eroded her dignity, given that her career was very important to her”.
The ruling on damages went on to say that Meade, who had worked at the council for more than 20 years, “would have felt ostracised and stigmatised. She was precluded from having any contact with her colleagues and thereby increasing her sense of isolation.”
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”.
The tribunal noted that Meade had told the hearing she was “made to feel like a criminal for over two years”. Meade had explained that letters from the council warning about the cost of pursuing legal action had “terrified her”.
And the tribunal noted that Meade was “incredibly disappointed” that her regulatory body had “not even now apologised to her or taken responsibility for its biassed and flawed investigation”…
AEDAN WOLTON
STILLTISH – 5 NOVEMBEER 2023 – GENDERCRITICALWOMAN
I originally began to look at Wolton to see if I could find evidence of connections and possible collusion between trans-activists in the complaints levelled against social worker, Rachel Meade, which led to an employment tribunal. Wolton made the complaint but another person, Jack Aitken, took a leading role in the investigation. Neither gave evidence at the tribunal nor can I find they gave a witness statement.
I was unable to evidence any proof of links between the three parties by searching for public pronouncements and social media connections. A search on Aitken is hampered by a prominent sporting person with the same name and there is little trail for Geoffrey Noyce.
The latter two seem not to have a social media presence and Wolton’s earlier account has been suspended though Wolton has a new account and a presence on linkedin. For some reason Wolton uses the name James on twitter:
This would appear to be Wolton’s new account which remains locked.
Looking on the linkedin account we can establish that Wolton is a registered social worker and has nearly an entire career centred on trans activism, of one type or another. She also has a post graduate diploma in gender identity healthcare practice and a Masters in psychology. Primary focus seems to be on issues which, predominantly, affect gay men so I am going to surmise she identifies as a gay man. Seems to have started with the unfortunately named (MAP) project which, among other activities, runs a “transgender” support group for young people. The Barbara Ross Association was founded in 1987 for “transwomen” /transvestites.
The Barbara Ross association also hosted conferences with such luminaries as Dr Sally Hines and Mark/Natacha Kennedy which likely included Wolton in the Cliniq presentation.
The latest appointment, at Sport England, perhaps explains why Sport England has failed to defend women’s sport. Indeed Sharon Davies had issued a call for Wolton to be removed from her post at Sport England.
Updating to add this tip about the management structure of Sport England. The head of campaigns, Kate Peers, has a degree from a Liberal Arts College in the United States and has a Masters degree in Gender Studies. Make of that what you will.
Wolton appears to have declared a male identity as far back as 2008. When she changed her name from Aimee Joan Wolton, as recorded at companies house.
This appears to be the only record of a company with which Wolton is currently active however Wolton is also shown as associated with a company named CCC Consultants org. Limited which I could find no record at Companies house.
It is also worth noting that the chair of Social Work England is Lord Patel who I have covered on this blog before.
Lord Patel is perhaps better known as the man who invited a trans-identified male and convicted sex offender to advise the House of Lords on “transgender” prisoners. More on this here: 
HOW LONG HAS THIS BEEN GOING ON?
Lord Patel also convened a group to look at issues affections “transgender” persons. The group comprised people from the NHS, Prison service and “transgender” people….