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Whistle Blowing

Introduction

Most people will know about whistleblowing from the high-profile cases reported in the media. From financial services and banking, to the NHS and social care sector.

Whistleblowing is speaking about wrongdoing in your work place. It’s shorthand for reporting or disclosing suspected wrongdoing or dangers at work, which is in the public interest.

Wrongdoing covers a range of activities from financial compliance to public safety. What you might encounter depends on where you work, as well as your role.

Whistleblowing is a vital mechanism for uncovering and dealing with problems quickly. If you do decide that you need to blow the whistle, the Public Interest Disclosure Act is designed to protect you from reprisals.

How do you view whistleblowing and whistleblowers?

Sounding the alarm in the workplace is a brave act. It’s true that whistleblowers could expose issues with their colleagues’ actions, but studies show that the majority of whistleblowers are genuinely motivated to protect the victims of any wrongdoing – even though they know they risk abuse and threats. Let’s face it, it would be much easier for people to look the other way.

Issues covered by whistleblowing:

  • Criminal Offence
  • Miscarriage of Justice
  • Damage to the Environment
  • Danger to Health and Safety
  • Breach of Legal Obligation
  • Deliberate Attempt to Conceal any of the above.

There are many things we might never have known without whistleblowers and many improvements to public institutions that would never have happened. When people feel safe to speak up and do the right thing, an organisation has the chance to learn about and deal with problems before they become a crisis. We want to encourage you to air any concerns you have, knowing that we support a ‘speak up’ culture and are committed to prevent any reprisals.

Whistleblowing and the Law…

The Public Interest Disclosure Act protects whistleblowers from workplace retaliation.

Who is protected?

The legislation covers, whether paid or unpaid, employees, interns, trainees, agency workers, self-employed workers on contract, part time workers and more. According to the government website, you are classed as a ‘worker’ if:

A Qualifying Disclosure

A qualifying disclosure must include real information that they reasonably believe which is…

in the public interest or tends to show that one of these has happened, will happen or is likely to happen.

And is one of the below:

  • Criminal Offence
  • Miscarriage of Justice
  • Damage to the Environment
  • Danger to Health and Safety
  • Breach of Legal Obligation
  • Deliberate Attempt to Conceal any of the above.

The Benefits

The benefits of having a whistleblowing policy include…

  • It encourages people to raise issues inside the organisation first
  • It explains how the whistleblower will be kept in the loop and supported
  • It conveys a zero-tolerance approach to wrongdoing to all staff
  • It communicates to the public the organisation’s commitment to doing the right thing.

A good whistleblowing policy works hand in hand with top level management commitment to promote a ‘speak up’, open, transparent culture. If we can achieve that, we hope you never have to use the protection of the legislation. Because, if we do, we hope you’d feel confident to raise an issue internally first, knowing we’d deal with it, and you, fairly and effectively.

Reporting…

Internally: – It’s best to make your disclosure internally first because this gives the organisation the opportunity to address issues immediately.

This is hard to do unless you’re confident that:

  • you will be protected
  • your concerns will be given proper consideration so that solutions can be found.

Externally: – If reporting internally is not an option, the first step is to contact a prescribed person or body.

There is a list of prescribed persons and bodies on the government website. Identify the prescribed person or body that’s right for the disclosure you intend making. We specify the appropriate prescribed person or body in our policy. If in doubt, get legal advice or contact an organisation such as Protect For Advice.

Remaining Anonymous

It is possible to blow the whistle anonymously, your complaint will still be investigated.

However, it’s helpful and may resolve things more quickly if you can be contacted to ask you questions and give you feedback. And if there’s no evidence linking you to the complaint it may compromise your protection under the legislation.

You can also ask for confidentiality and whoever you tell should make every effort to protect your identity.

Getting Advice if you’re not satisfied

If you’re not satisfied with how your employer dealt with your disclosure, you should:

  • tell a senior member of management
  • or tell a prescribed person or body, if you believe your concern wasn’t taken seriously or the wrongdoing is still going on.
  • or contact the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas), the whistleblowing charity Public Concern at Work or your trade union for more guidance.

Handling Retaliation

To claim PIDA protection, you need to show:

1) You have made a qualifying disclosure

2) You have followed the correct disclosure procedure

3) You were mistreated as a result of having made the disclosure

If you’ve been treated unfairly because you’ve blown the whistle, you can get advice and more information from:

  • ACAS
  • Protect
  • Citizen’s Advice
  • or Your trade union

Summary

You should now feel confident that you understand:

Your next steps are to familiarise yourself with our whistleblowing policy and make sure you know who to talk to if you have any concerns about wrongdoing in the workplace.