A social worker sacked by a Welsh local authority after raising concerns about children in care is taking his case to an employment tribunal.

Charles Faber has claimed he was victimised by Cardiff County Council after revealing his concerns to the BBC Wales programme, Week In Week Out.

Charles Faber was suspended and later sacked

The authority has always maintained it sacked Charles Faber because of financial mismanagement.

Councillors alleged he paid himself more than �20,000 overtime in one year.

But Mr Faber and his union have claimed he was fired for going public with concerns about the council's Children's Services Department.

He told Week In Week Out that he felt vulnerable children in Cardiff were slipping through the net and had been abandoned by social services.

'Unacceptable'

In March, more than 3,000 council staff went out on strike in support of Mr Faber.

Six months later, a report by the Audit Commission agreed that Cardiff's Social Services Department was exposing vulnerable children to unacceptable risks.

The tribunal hearing, which will be held in Cardiff, is expected to last four days.

In August it emerged that a row had broken out over the legal bill the council had run up during legal action against staff who were sacked after raising concerns about care services.

'Valid criticisms'

A senior opposition councillor in Cardiff claimed the local authority had spent hundreds of thousands of pounds with a private law firm defending cases brought by employees who have been suspended or sacked.

But Gareth Neale, leader of the Conservative group on the council, suggested the failings pointed out by the whistleblowing workers had proved valid criticisms of the city's social services.

He said senior Cardiff councillors and council officials are in a "state of denial" over the shortcomings in the city's services for caring for children and the elderly.

Mr Neale said the taxpayers' cash which the local authority has spent on legal fees - estimated at �500,000 - could have been used on the services which are soon to be the subject of a report by the Audit Commission and the assembly's social services inspectorate.