Treasury 'failed in duty of care' to employee who died after disciplinary meeting

Chloe Moffat walked into what she thought was a routine check-in with her line manager on the afternoon of May 19, 2025. She was 26, a personal assistant to a Treasury director, and had worked in the civil service long enough to know the rhythms of her job. What she didn't know was that a more senior manager would be in the room alongside her supervisor. "Chloe's first comment was, 'Oh, this must be serious, there's two of you here'," her father David recalled. It was the moment she understood something had gone wrong.

The meeting that followed presented her with allegations that she had shared sensitive confidential information about colleagues. She denied the charges. But what struck David most, in the aftermath, was not the accusations themselves—it was what happened when Chloe asked for basic protections. She requested that a friend be allowed to sit with her. She asked, repeatedly, whether she would lose her job. Both requests were refused. The managers would not tell her what the likely outcome would be, even as her anxiety mounted.

What neither Chloe nor her managers seemed to know was that the Treasury's own written disciplinary policy contained an answer to her unasked question. Had the allegations against her been proven, the policy made clear that the probable penalty was a written warning. Dismissal was not the expected outcome. But that policy was never consulted during the meeting. The coroner would later find that this failure to follow procedure was itself a material failure—one that left Chloe in a state of uncertainty about her future at precisely the moment she most needed clarity.

The meeting ended. Chloe was then locked out of her email account. "That was all part of the shock and awe of it all for Chloe," David said. She went home. The next day, on May 20, she took her own life.

At an inquest in August 2026, more than a year after her death, the coroner made a stark finding: the meeting between Chloe and her managers had "materially contributed" to her death. The coroner also found that the Treasury had failed to apply its own written policy—a failure that, had it been followed, might have given Chloe the reassurance she desperately sought.

Speaking to the BBC, David Moffat described the lack of support his daughter received as a failure of basic duty of care. "There was no safeguarding, there was no support during or after that meeting," he said. "It beggars belief that an organisation that is front and central in our government cannot get it right." He acknowledged that the Treasury's permanent secretary had written to him and his wife, Anne, and that they had met with him. But David was clear: the department had not yet taken full responsibility for its role in Chloe's death.

The Moffats are considering what comes next. They have not ruled out further legal action, though they remain uncertain. What they want, David said, is redress—and a commitment that the lessons from Chloe's death will be learned. "If something positive can come from this unbearable loss that we're suffering, that's all we look to achieve," he said. The Treasury, for its part, has committed to responding to the coroner's findings and has already introduced changes to its guidance, support, and wellbeing arrangements. Whether those changes will be enough to prevent another tragedy like Chloe's remains to be seen.