A HOUSING officer who was suspended by Southampton City Council after it emerged he was barred from social work for having sex with a client is back at work.

Phillip Bennett, 49, failed to tell the council about his past as a social worker on the Orkney Islands in Scotland where he was struck off for having sex with a female client at the offices of a care charity.

He was suspended in June from his job at Copenhagen Towers in Weston “pending further investigation.”

But following a disciplinary hearing Southampton council bosses said they now were “pleased to say that Mr Bennett has now returned to work for the council.”

Southampton City Council’s head of housing management Nick Cross said the council was completely satisfied that there was no risk to any of its residents.

Mr Bennett had said Southampton did not need to know about his past as it had nothing to do with his current work, which was different and did not require him to be registered.