Banbury family worker claims to have lost career path after job offer is mysteriously dropped and he is branded 'a danger'

Ayjaz Hanif, of Bretch Hill, was interviewed by Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) and offered a job as a residential family worker at Matthew Wigglesworth House, Oxford – a centre for young people’s supported housing. He accepted the position and, at the suggestion of the council, resigned from his permanent employment to take up the post.

However soon before his start date the council contacted him to say it had withdrawn the job offer, leaving Mr Hanif no option but to take temporary relief work. The authority refused to tell him why it had rescinded the offer, claiming GDPR rules prevented them from discussing the matter. The county has used the same reason to refuse to comment to the Banbury Guardian.

GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) governs the way authorities can use, process and store personal data about an identifiable, living person. The county says this applies even though Mr Hanif has given permission for his information to be shared and has, indeed, handed all the information to the Banbury Guardian news team.

Mr Hanif said he was told to hand in his notice at the children’s home near Banbury at which he was working, while OCC conducted DBS checks (disclosure and barring checks) to ensure he was a safe recruit.

“My DBS was on the update system, clean and clear with no criminal charges or pending investigations. OCC wanted to see my hard copy but I had misplaced it so I had to re-apply for a new, enhanced DBS, which OCC paid for. There was nothing to hide.

“I was in the middle of training for my NVQ level 3 qualification when I had handed in my notice and the county had promised to allow me to continue and finish my course in my new job.

“When I left my full time job, my DBS had still not returned and I was contacting OCC weekly to see what progress had been made. They said they were unable to start me until my DBS returned. And due to no job after leaving my full time post, on the request of OCC, I registered with a number of agencies for temporary work with different care homes in Oxfordshire.

“In the meantime OCC emailed me a number of e-learning courses and webinars to complete and attend which I did. I did approximately 20 training courses.”

Because of his temporary work commitments Mr Hanif was going to complete additional courses after starting the new position.

“It wasn’t until approximately two and a half months down the line, the agency OCC uses told me senior managers had decided to withdraw their job offer, that they did further background checks and under GDPR data, found information which they were unable to disclose – (but these were) allegations of child abuse,” he said.

It is believed the allegations referred to an incident where a young person in a private care home had made an accusation against Mr Hanif. Accusations were subsequently made by this young person against two other members of staff. All three were suspended; full investigations were conducted and all three were cleared and returned to their work.

"It is the nature of the job that allegations are made sometimes. These are always treated seriously and, of course, they have to investigate further. However I was back at the service once cleared and there was nothing on my DBS about this false allegation,” said Mr Hanif.

“When I challenged (OCC) and asked them what evidence that they found, they refused to tell me, stating that they are unable to disclose such information but that I pose a threat and danger to them and their organisation.

"They apologised for the inconvenience they caused as they were aware that I had been waiting for quite some time and was looking forward to starting my career with them. I believe I had every right to know what they discovered about me and how I am a danger to them.”

Mr Hanif has been a children’s teacher since 1995, teaching children from five – 13 years old.

“I have a clean professional record. I have worked with children from challenging backgrounds and with mental health issues,” he said.

Mr Hanif said many teachers have false allegations made against them.

A family man with children of his own, he describes himself as ‘a very passionate individual who loves teaching’. He said he was extremely upset and angry that he had been treated as guilty.

"If I had committed any violent or heinous acts of crime, bearing in mind that I have been teaching since 1995, there would have been warnings, cautions and reprimands and other allegations or accusations recorded on my DBS. But it is clean,” he said.

Having celebrated his new job with family and friends, Mr Hanif was forced to ‘start from scratch’, reapplying for jobs in an attempt to rebuild his career.

“It has wasted my time financially, physically and mentally. It has been very stressful,” he said.

Mr Hanif has put a complaint into Oxfordshire County Council.

The Banbury Guardian asked for a comment but an OCC spokesman cited GDPR as a reason why it was unable to do so. It said: “We would never discuss people’s personal details publicly. As such we are dealing directly with the gentleman who has made the complaint.”