A SOCIAL worker has been struck off for working in the UK illegally for 15 years and obtaining grant funding he should not have had.

Akwasi Anane, 36, from Kendal, Purfleet, has been struck off the Health Care Professionals Council register for remaining in the UK and obtaining social work funding he was not entitled to under his immigration status.

Mr Anane has been working for Capita, a firm which provides social workers for councils and health trusts across south Essex.

A panel of the Health Care Professionals Council conduct and competence committee heard that Mr Anane, a Ghanaian national, entered the UK in January 1999 using the name of Gordon Anim Osafo.

He should have left after six months.

He  subsequently made a number of applications and appeals to remain in the UK, under his current name, which were all refused.

The panel further heard that Akwasi Anane obtained funding to undertake social work training by falseley stating he had obtained "settled status".

He was also granted a bursary by NHS Business Services to support him during his studies.

It totalled around £40,000.

Panel Chair Jim Cassidy said: “The registrant benefitted financially and professionally from these acts of dishonesty. He misled the authorities on a number of occasions and sought to abdicate his responsibility for providing accurate information in applications by saying the local authority should have checked the information which he had given.

“No evidence has been put before the panel to show any attempt to remediate that dishonest behaviour. Therefore, the panel considers that there is still a risk of dishonest behaviour being repeated.”

The panel decided the most appropriate action was to strike Akwasi Anane from the Register.