The presiding judge then ordered SWE and WCC to conduct staff training on freedom of speech.
Rachel Meade, a social worker for Westminster City Council for nearly 20 years, had a private Facebook account and shared posts critical of gender ideology with her 40 online friends.
One of her colleagues, Aedan Wolton, who identifies as transgender man, took offense to her posts and filed a complaint to Social Work England in 2020 on allegations of transphobia.
Wolton is an active proponent of gender identity ideology and has made numerous derogatory statements about women who are critical of the movement, referring to them as TERFS and terrorists.
As a case worker, safeguarding is a key proponent of Meade's professional role. She was involved in a debate arguing against the UK's Gender Recognition bill, which did not pass.
On her private social media account, Meade distributed articles, cartoons, and petitions alerting people about the risks associated with allowing men to self-identify in women's spaces and services. Wolton compiled her posts into a dossier and submitted it to SWE.
As a result of the complaint, SWE placed Meade under a fitness-to-practice investigation.
Meade received a one-year warning in 2021 from SWE case examiners. Westminster Council suspended her later that year on the grounds of serious misconduct and then gave her one last written warning.
Meade described how she was "made to feel like a criminal for over two years" during the tribunal. The WCC's letters, she claimed, "terrified her" because they warned of the high cost of taking legal action.
Judge Richard Nicolle of the tribunal handed out the damages, declaring that SWE had "allowed its processes to be subverted to punish and suppress [Meade's] lawful political speech" and that its actions constituted a "serious abuse of its power."
