Michelle Cochrane loved her job in the pensions department of the DWP (Image: SWNS)
A DWP employee claims she was forced to resign after facing disciplinary action and threats of dismissal for sharing Reform party posts on Facebook, as well as a Daily Express article. Michelle Cochrane, 45, who had been an administration officer in the pensions department at DWP since July 2021, loved her job.
However, the civil servant from Blyth, Northumberland, held views that differed from the government’s stance on immigration and tax expenditure. Around the general election period, she started posting Labour-critical content on her personal Facebook account – 14 posts between June and July.
These posts touched on issues such as immigration, early prisoner release, and Labour’s handling of public finances, with two posts featuring her own commentary. She shared 11 Reform posts, one UK Independence Party post, one post containing a Daily Express news article, and one post by Nigel Farage.
Despite her profile not mentioning her employment or employer, Michelle was called into a disciplinary meeting in August. She was informed that an investigation would be conducted into her shared posts, and if found guilty of gross misconduct, she could face dismissal.
During the meeting, Michelle defended her right to ‘freedom of speech’, alleging that other colleagues had shared posts from different political parties without any consequences.
Michelle Cochrane shared a number of contentious posts on social media (Image: SWNS)
Michelle felt “railroaded” into resigning, believing her dismissal was a “foregone conclusion” and prioritising her mental health.
She said: “It’s been traumatic. I felt I had no choice to resign. I deleted my whole Facebook account as soon as I realised it was an issue.
“The majority of what I was posting was just reposts from the Reform party’s Facebook – I wrote a couple of things myself but nothing extreme.
“I feel like if I reposted things from the Labour Party I would have been ok. Colleagues have done that before and no action was taken. The meeting was supposed to be a ‘fact finding’ meeting but it sounded like it was already disciplinary. I felt I had no choice but to resign – I felt I was pushed in that direction.”
She admitted to having only a few close colleagues as friends, and only a handful of family members knew about her job.
Between June and July, she shared Reform posts on topics such as immigration, early release of prisoners, and Labour’s handling of public finances.
She is unsure how her work management came across the posts she shared on her private account.
One post by Reform featured an image of people on a boat at sea wearing life jackets with the captions “watch the population explosion in real time” and “Britain needs Reform”.
The article highlighted shocking social media posts which saw Michelle share a Reform graphic claiming: “£84 million to Africa & Middle East, more cash more boats,” alongside a message that claimed “Britain needs Reform.”
Michelle Cochrane shared posts by Reform UK and UKIP (Image: SWNS)
On another occasion, she voiced her concerns about immigration’s impact on a small town, saying: “Never thought I would see the day when immigration is even a problem for a small town like Blyth. Time not to just limit it, but end it.”
A further provocative post by Reform regarding Labour supposedly releasing 40,000 prisoners had Michelle adding her own sharp-tongued question: “Will they never learn from the past? “.
Out of the total 14 political posts, Michelle insisted two were shared inadvertently.
One of these claimed unintentional shares originated from a page named ‘Mick Ashton’, with a contentious statement: “Now you’ve stopped the winter fuel payments for pensioners there is no reason why you can’t stop all the hand outs for the boat people.”
Similarly, an inflammatory post from the ‘UK Independence Party’ showed a prison interior with words demanding, “Deport all foreign criminals. Britain shouldn’t house the world’s scum”.
In August, upon being summoned to an October disciplinary hearing, Michelle reported taking almost a month off due to medical leave as the ensuing stress sparked an anxiety disorder.
Yet, in the October review, she staunchly defended her right to “freedom of speech”, mentioning she only shared materials from “a legitimate political party”.
Michelle also claimed ignorance of any wrongdoing with regards to her actions.
Michelle was reminded by the staff member conducting the consultation of an internal email from May, prior to the election, instructing staff not to discuss politics on any work or personal platforms. However, Michelle asserts that she never received this email.
She said: “Ahead of the meeting I had to go on anti-anxiety medications because I was so stressed. It could have been a normal chat – I didn’t know what I was doing was wrong so I didn’t know to stop.
“My partner strongly suggested I resign after the meeting because I felt eventually I would be dismissed anyway.”
After submitting her resignation, Michelle’s last day was October 31, and she is currently seeking new employment.
However, she believes she has been treated unfairly, claiming that other colleagues have posted political comments on their personal accounts without repercussions.
She said: “If it was a banned or extremist party I’d get it – but it’s a legitimate political party who have MPs. I thought it was illegal to discriminate against someone for their political beliefs.
“I think if it had been a more left-wing party I was supporting, it wouldn’t have been an issue. If it’s not ok, it should be a blanket ban for everyone, not just certain views.”
She added: “I’m starting to come to terms with the anxiety now, but I’m really angry with the way I’ve been treated. It’s been extremely traumatic, I’ve needed counselling over what happened.”
The DWP refused to comment when approached, stating they are unable to discuss individual staffing issues.
