In terms of employment law, supporting a member of staff who has been falsely accused of a misdemeanour – particularly if they are a teacher of work with young children – can be a tricky balancing act, it has been stated.

Trisha Pritchard, senior professional officer for the Professional Association of Nursery Nurses at Voice, said: "There is almost an inevitability that we can be falsely accused [...] It is a very fine line, which will take a long time to look at and put things into place to help everyone."

Her comments come as a study by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers’ revealed that 1,155 teachers and support staff discovered that assertions of wrongdoing has tarnished careers and caused serious problems in private lives.

And accusations of committing misdemeanours which are found to be false could have a similar impact on other sectors in the UK.

Indeed, a quarter of school staff have had a false allegation made against them by a pupil and one in six have had an allegation made by a member of a pupil’s family.

Ms Pritchard claimed that because of this, the education sector was losing "a hell of a lot of good staff".

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