Treasury chiefs accept they contributed to the death of a 26-year-old aide who was never told she faced only a written warning

Published 30 October 2026, 18:48

• Chloe Moffat was ambushed at a 'routine' meeting with claims she shared colleagues' secrets, Surrey assistant coroner Anna Crawford found.
• Denied a union representative or any written notice, Ms Moffat took her own life at her parents' Surrey home the next day.
• Her mother, Anne Moffat, said the anonymous allegations were 'nothing more than workplace gossip'.

HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office have formally accepted that they contributed to the death of a 26-year-old personal assistant, saying they are "committed to ensuring that the lessons arising from Chloe's death result in meaningful and lasting improvements."

Chloe Moffat, who worked as a personal assistant at the Treasury for almost three years, died on 20 May 2025 — the day after she was confronted without warning at what she thought was a routine meeting with her line manager.

She had an exemplary employment record and, according to the Guardian's report by Helena Horton, "loved her job."

She died by suicide at her parents' home in Godalming, Surrey.

Writing to Surrey assistant coroner Anna Crawford, who had presided over the inquest as well as the prevention of future deaths report, the Treasury and Cabinet Office stated: "HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office accept the concerns identified in your report and take them extremely seriously."

"We are committed to ensuring that the lessons arising from Chloe's death result in meaningful and lasting improvements."

The Treasury said it had taken immediate steps in response to the coroner's findings.

It has halted informal fact-finding meetings while a full policy review is conducted, introduced strengthened "wellbeing safeguards," and committed to informing employees facing serious or gross misconduct allegations of the possible outcomes before asking them to respond.

A suicide prevention framework is also being developed alongside enhanced mental health support.

The Cabinet Office made an additional commitment, pledging to carry out a broad examination of workplace disputes and how they are resolved throughout Whitehall over the next 12 months — an indication that the issues highlighted by the coroner are being viewed as a matter for the whole of government, not simply a problem for the Treasury alone.

The inquest found that on 19 May 2025, Moffat attended what she believed was a routine one-to-one meeting with her line manager, only to find a more senior manager also present.

She was told that anonymous colleagues had alleged she shared sensitive personal information about them, obtained through her job.

Decisions to limit her job responsibilities and remove her access to her manager's diary had already been made before she walked into the room.

Crawford found that Moffat was given no written notice of the allegations before the meeting, was denied the right to have a trade union representative or colleague present, and — crucially — was never told that the likely penalty if the allegations were proven would be a written warning rather than dismissal.

Moffat, in tears, raised the question of whether her job was at risk, to which the head of global issues at the Treasury told her she "could not predict the outcome" of any potential investigation.

The head of global issues told the coroner's hearing that she had not warned Moffat about the meeting in advance because "she did not want Chloe to worry about it."

When Moffat's line manager was asked whether she would have done anything differently, she said: "No, I think we did all we could at the time with the information and advice we were given."

Crawford rejected that approach.

"By handling the matter in the way they did, Chloe was denied safeguards," she found.

The coroner's Record of Inquest said that "HM Treasury materially contributed to Miss Moffat's death by not applying their written Discipline Policy and Procedure in that they did not inform her that the likely penalty, if the allegations were proven, was a written warning and not dismissal," and that her "concern that she would lose her job materially contributed to her state of mind prior to her death and the formation of her intention to take her own life."

The meeting had been described internally as an "informal fact-finding" meeting, but Crawford found it had no basis in the Treasury's own written disciplinary policy, dated April 2023 and aligned with ACAS guidelines, which made "no provision" for such informal meetings.

Senior HR managers gave evidence that such meetings "were, and remain, standard practice within HM Treasury and across other government departments," which Crawford said "runs the risk of serious and/or gross misconduct allegations being put to colleagues without safeguards in place," and she issued her prevention of future deaths report to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Head of the Civil Service on 12 August 2026.

Moffat's mother, Anne Moffat, described her daughter as "a bright, caring and talented young woman who loved her family, her friends and her work."

She said the evidence at the inquest "reinforced our belief that the allegations made against Chloe were nothing more than workplace gossip."

"She was treated with a complete lack of empathy with regard to allegations made by colleagues who chose to remain anonymous," Anne Moffat said.

"We continue to believe that HM Treasury failed in its duty of care towards Chloe. At a time when she needed support, reassurance and fair treatment, she was left frightened, isolated and convinced that her career and reputation had been destroyed."

"We will continue to honour her memory and seek the changes needed to ensure that no other family suffers a similar loss," Anne Moffat said.

If you have been affected by the issues in this story, the Samaritans can be reached in confidence on 116 123.