A social worker forged signatures on expenses forms and claimed money for clients who had no knowledge of the applications.

Former Highland Council team manager, Kubeshni Gounder has been removed from the register after an 18-day hearing by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC).

The SSSC ruled she had dishonestly submitted applications for financial assistance "some or all of which were not requested, required or received by the families in question".

She also forged signatures on travel expenses claims totalling almost 2000 miles in the space of two months and submitted false claims for mileage for days when he was on annual leave.

The cases occurred between September 2012 and January 2013 while Ms Gounder was employed by Highland Council as the team manager in the children and families team.

The SSSC ruled Ms Gounder had committed misconduct in his actions and said: "Your misconduct was very serious. There was dishonesty. Each of the allegations involved some risk of harm to colleagues and service users.

"There had been an abuse of the power that came from your work with service users and colleagues. You had abused the trust of service users, their families, your colleagues and your former employer.

"You had demonstrated behaviour which identified you as being unfit to be a member of a caring and responsible profession."

"These were premeditated actions. Your behaviour was not isolated and it was deliberate.

"You did not express any regret for your actions."