Robert Collins
Introduction
Robert Collins is a former teacher at Formby High School on Merseyside whose name was struck from the teaching register in August 2026 after a Teaching Regulation Agency panel accepted his convictions for a string of child-sex offences, including multiple counts of sexual communication with a child, attempted incitement of a girl under 13, and possessing an indecent photograph of a child. Collins admitted the facts, the Secretary of State imposed a prohibition order with no review period, and he can never apply to teach again in England.
The published decision is the primary public record of both the convictions and the professional consequences.
Background Information
Collins worked as a teacher at Formby High School, a secondary school in Formby, Liverpool. The disciplinary record focuses on the regulatory outcome rather than his biography, but the conviction dates it publishes span several years of offending against children he had no professional connection to in the documents published: counts run from August 2019 through June 2023.
The case reached the regulator through the conviction route used for teachers convicted of relevant offences: the criminal court’s fact-finding is treated as conclusive, and the panel’s role is confined to deciding whether a prohibition order is warranted and whether any review period should attach. Collins admitted the facts of all nine offence counts and admitted they amounted to convictions of relevant offences.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Adjudicated vs. alleged. Collins’s convictions were recorded by Sefton Magistrates’ Court and accepted by the TRA panel as conclusive proof; nothing in this section is an unadjudicated allegation. He was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court.
According to the published decision, on 12 June 2024 Collins was found guilty and convicted at Sefton Magistrates’ Court of nine offences: four counts of engaging in sexual communication with a child across 2020 to 2023; three counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child; attempting to cause or incite a female child under 13 to engage in sexual activity with no penetration; causing or inciting a female child under 16 to engage in sexual activity with no penetration on two occasions; and possessing an indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child. On 24 September 2024 he was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court to a total of 27 months’ imprisonment, made subject to a requirement to register with police for 10 years, and ordered to pay a surcharge.
The panel treated the certificate of conviction as conclusive under the regulator’s published advice and found the convictions amounted to conviction of relevant offences. The decision records that the conduct fell significantly short of the standards expected of the profession, breaching the Teachers’ Standards concerning public trust and the safeguarding of children.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The panel recommended a prohibition order with no review period, and the decision on behalf of the Secretary of State agreed, recording that Collins “shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach”. The published order states he is “prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England”. The determination is dated 27 August 2026.
The ban was published on GOV.UK on 16 September 2026 as part of the regulator’s regular stream of panel outcomes. No separate mainstream press coverage of the case has been located; the public record consists of the regulator’s own published decision. Conviction-based bans of this kind are the regulator’s most one-sided cases, because the criminal court has already found the facts beyond reasonable doubt.
Current Status
Collins is barred from teaching for life. The prohibition order carries no review period, so there is no date after which he may apply to have the order set aside; his removal from the register is permanent barring a successful, extraordinary appeal of the order itself. He also remains subject to the criminal court’s sentence, including the 10-year registration requirement.
Impact on Their Career/Life
The career impact is total: a qualified teacher cannot work in any teaching capacity in England, and the convictions carry the collateral consequences of a child-sex-offence record, including the decade-long notification requirement. The case sits within the TRA’s 2026 pattern of pairing multi-count child-sex convictions with lifetime bans and no route back to the profession.
Sources
- Teaching Regulation Agency, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Robert Collins,” published 16 September 2026 — source