No power to make a sanction decision 

An employee had been in a sexual relationship with a junior staff member. The breach decision did not consider whether the relationship was inappropriate or a misuse of authority (given the seniority of the employee), or if there was evidence of sexual harassment. The investigation only considered whether the employee’s failure to declare the relationship was a breach of the Code of Conduct.

A sanction decision-maker can only rely on considerations that were central and material to the breach decision. In this case, the sanction decision-maker took the view that the relationship itself was ‘misconduct’ not simply the failure to declare it. The MPC determined that the sanction decision had relied upon irrelevant (and untested) considerations and was therefore invalid. As such, the MPC recommended the sanction decision be set aside.