That is the hot question in the media and in the social care blogging sphere this week.
The question centres around the case of Lynda Barnes, a child protection social worker from Bath and North East Somerset Council, who was convicted of conspiring to murder her husband.
Barnes' former conviction became public recently when her professional practice and conduct was severely criticised during a child protection case. In 1995, Barnes met with a hitman and offered him a sum of money to murder her husband. She pleaded guilty, was given a two year suspended sentence and was subsequently sacked by Avon Council.
In 2005, she was hired by Bath and North East Somerset Council and went on to be promoted to team leader. When applying for registration as a social worker, Barnes did admit the conviction, although the judge found that she gave both the GSCC and Bath and NE Somerset Council a 'sanitised' version of events. She also gave them permission to read her criminal file, which neither did.
Read the full story in The Times online.
So, should a conviction for conspiracy to commit murder prevent someone from being a social worker?