You may have read or heard on the news the terrible news of Chloe Moffat, 26, a PA at the Treasury taking her own life whilst been subject to disciplinary proceedings. The background to this awful situation was the making against her of a ‘vexatious’ complaint. On 19 May 2025 Ms Moffat had been invited to a meeting where she was informed of the allegation that she had shared confidential information which she denied. Ms Moffat had worked at the Treasury for almost three years and had an unblemished employment record. At the meeting with two managers Ms Moffat had enquired whether she might lose her job and was informed by the more senior manager that they ‘could not predict the outcome at this stage.’ After the meeting, Ms Moffat texted a friend and outlined her concerns that she might be dismissed then called her mother and it was decided that she should stay at her parent’s home. The next day she took her own life.
On Monday, 14th August 2026, the Assistant Coroner, Anne Crawford, recorded a conclusion of suicide and held that her Employer, HM Treasury, contributed to her death by not having a written disciplinary policy and failing to explain that, at its highest, the disciplinary sanction that could be imposed for the allegation, Ms Moffat was faced with, was a written warning. It was held that had a proper disciplinary letter been issued then this would have outlined the allegations Ms Moffat was being faced with along with the potential penalty and thereby reduced the impact of the shock and distress on Ms Moffat’s state of mind.
I would concur with the views expressed above and would emphasise the importance of a written and easily available disciplinary policy. I would also go further and draw Employers attention to their template invite to disciplinary letters. On the back of the above tragedy, it is vitally important to ensure that the wording of the potential disciplinary sanction that the employee could face, as set out in the invite to disciplinary letter, is accurate rather than relying upon general working such as ‘all sanctions are available for consideration up to and including dismissal.’ I am aware that quite often this general wording is used for fear of not having set out that there was the potential to dismiss and then subsequently dismissing an employee only to face a finding of unfair dismissal on procedural grounds.
However to be clear, If a potential outcome could be dismissal then it is important to detail this in the disciplinary letter, but if, as in the above proceedings, the highest sanction that could be awarded is a final written warning then this should be set out and the letter should go no further than this.
Thanks to Steve Maguire for this review.
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