A TEACHER who was maliciously accused of sexually abusing a pupil has been banned from working in Kirklees - despite police and social services declaring him innocent.
Now a union is battling to clear his name.
The father-of-two began supply teaching in Kirklees primary schools in September 2005 after qualifying as a teacher.
The man, in his 40s, worked at over a dozen primary schools in the area before the false accusation was made by a girl in December 2005.
He was suspended - and because he was a supply teacher, received no money - until investigations were completed this summer .
West Yorkshire Police decided the man had no case to answer.
Another investigation by Kirklees Social Services also found him innocent.
However an internal inquiry by the council's education authority decided to suspend him.
Derek Round, local secretary of the teaching union NASUWT, which is now helping the man, said: "The local authority does not have to consider cases on the same basis as a court; the burden of proof for the authorities is on the balance of probabilities rather than beyond reasonable doubt as would be the case in court - a quite significant and crucial difference.
"It means you are just 51% sure rather than 100%.
"As a result of this, our member has been barred for life from working in Kirklees.
"He is devastated. Everyone who met him said he was a top notch teacher.
"His health has suffered and the stress on him and his family has been enormous."
The teacher believed he had got his career back on track after securing a permanent position in a neighbouring authority in September.
But he told his employer what had happened in Kirklees and only weeks into his employment, he was suspended because of details on his Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check.
CRB checks include a 'soft information' box which includes details of investigations.
But Mr Round said; "Despite this man being found innocent he has been suspended again.
"As far as we can see the police have no directive or guidelines on how to input and present information into this category.
"We have a teacher whose career has probably been ruined as a result of a malicious allegation, a teacher whose qualifications have been revoked forcing financial hardship upon himself and also possibly subjecting himself and the family to the stigma of being accused of such a terrible crime."
The union are now trying to get the teacher's Kirklees ban lifted and sort out CRB information to preclude the situation happening again.
Mr Round added: "I recognise people's fear about children being abused. But this is simply not a case of this."
A council spokesman said: "The LEA has a responsibility to safeguard the children and young people in its care, and, on that basis, it needs to consider the balance of probabilities.
"It's not a case of finding people guilty or not guilty. We do not overturn or overrule anyone - we make a judgement based on our duty of care and the information provided.
"We have not received any correspondence from the NASUWT since a meeting with the individual and his representative in July."
A spokesman for the Home Office, which deals with CRB checks, said the 'soft information' disclosures were discretionary.
He said under plans to be introduced next year there would be a standardisation of the information.
