A FORMER Pembrokeshire headteacher is facing claims he authorised his own pay increase without going through the correct channels, the Western Telegraph can reveal.

A committee was set to discuss allegations of unacceptable professional conduct by Dr Nicholas Poole, former headteacher of Sir Thomas Picton School, Haverfordwest, this week.

However, the Education Workforce Council (EWC) hearing was postponed until a later date.

Dr Poole, who was made headteacher at the secondary school in 2013 and resigned in May last year, is accused of “acting dishonestly” by authorising his pay progression and, on a number of occasions, recording he was at meetings when he was not.

The hearing was due to be held on Cardiff over three days, starting today (Wednesday).

The allegations listed in full state that Dr Poole:

“1. authorised his pay progression without:

a) a Performance Management Panel review meeting taking place to agree that he had either met and/or made significant progress towards his targets;

b) having received prior approval from the Pay Review Committee.

“2. recommended to the Pay Review Committee that members of the Senior Leadership Team received pay progression when he had not completed their Performance Management review.

“3. reversed the decision made by the Pay Review Committee not to award members of staff pay increments without referring this back to the Committee for approval.”

This breached the Statutory School Teacher Appraisal (Wales) Regulations, the school’s Performance Management Procedure and its Pay Policy.

It is also alleged that between February and September 2015 Dr Poole was “absent from school on a number of occasions and recorded in his diary that he was attending meetings and/or interviews when this was not the case”.

Pembrokeshire County Council declined to comment.

The EWC hearing will meet in due course.