What is Whistle-blowing?

Modified on Wed, 30 Sep, 2020 at 3:49 PM

Whistle-blowing: an introduction

Whistle-blowing is the act of disclosing information about wrongdoing in the workplace. This could mean highlighting possible unlawful activities in the organisation, failures to comply with legal obligations, miscarriages of justice or reporting on risks to the health and safety of individuals or to the environment.

Such activities could be a violation of a law, rule or regulation, or a threat to public interest, such as fraud, health and safety violations or corruption.

By "blowing the whistle", you may highlight illegal activity in the workplace, and you may protect others in future.

What are the first steps in reporting an issue?

It is vital to follow certain steps if you are going to make a claim about an issue concerning you at work, because making such a disclosure is a serious matter. Normally you would first report the issue internally to your employers before making any disclosure externally. External disclosure is only protected in certain limited circumstances - you should consult your UNISON rep before making such a disclosure.

If you are going to blow the whistle, it is vital that you consider the following points carefully.

What had evidence do you have to support any claim?
Are you sure that your concerns could not be raised informally or through the usual grievance procedure? Find out more about grievance procedures.
Take advice from your UNISON rep and if you cannot find any, alert your branch secretary or UNISON regional organiser. How to contact UNISON.
If none of this works within a reasonable time, you may consider raising the issues publicly. In this case, it is crucial you take advice from your UNISON rep. It would be unusual to raise the issue publicly before raising them with your employer and it is only in certain very limited circumstances that you will be protected if you raise the issue publicly.

Will you be legally protected if you blow the whistle about an issue at work?

Workers are protected as whistle-blowers if they fulfil certain criteria.

"Worker" in this case is widely defined and includes not only employees, but also certain agency workers or people who are not employed, but who are in training with the employer.

some self-employed people are protected if the work is done in a place not under their control or management.

A Whistle-blower is legally protected if a disclosure made is about:

a criminal act;
a failure to comply with a legal obligation;
a miscarriage of justice;
a danger to health and safety;
damage to the environment;
an attempt to cover up any of these.

To be protected you must have a reasonable belief that the information tends to show that one of more of the above has happened, is happening or is likely to happen. You must also have a reasonable belief that the information that you are disclosing is true. If these conditions are met, the disclosure may be a "qualifying disclosures" in terms of the relevant legislation.

For your disclosure to be protected by the law you should make it to the right person, in the right way. If an employment tribunal considers that your disclosure was made in bad faith, it has the power to reduce any compensation award by up to 25%.

You will generally be protected if you make your claim to your employer or to another person if you reasonably believe that the relevant failure relates solely or mainly to that person, or is a matter for which that person other than your employer has responsibility.

Employees appointed by a minister of the crown may make disclosures to such a minister.

Disclosures about certain types of matters may also be made to specific bodies, such as the relevant regulatory body.

There may be protection for disclosing the issue to another person in exceptional circumstances - such as where the employee reasonably believes that making the disclosure to their employer means that they will be subject to a detriment or that evidence will be concealed or destroyed; the employee has already made the disclosure to their employer; or where the relevant failure is of an exceptionally serious nature. Ins such cases the disclosure must not be made for the purposes of personal gain.

It is important that you seek advice from your UNISON rep before making such a disclosure, as strict criteria apply in order for you to be protected.

How to contact UNISON.

Whistle-blowing and the law

The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 provides legal protection for individuals who disclose information to expose acts such as criminal acts. The equivalent legislation in Northern Ireland is the Public Interest Disclosure (Northern Ireland) Order 1998. The legislation made substantial amendments to the Employment Rights Act 1996 - and the Employment Rights (NI) Order 1996 in Northern Ireland - to protect whistle-blowers from dismissal and detrimental treatment by their employer.

In some cases, the employee may bring a case before an employment tribunal, which can award compensation.

Find out more about employment tribunals.

As a result of the legislation, some employers have developed internal whistle-blowing procedures, although the legislation does not enforce this.

Action for UNISON representatives

If your employer does not already have a whistle-blowing policy in place, negotiate to create a policy which encourages workers to feel confident in raising concerns and to establish a fair investigative process. If an employee reveals to you that they have discovered unlawful activities at work, discuss the next steps with your UNISON regional office or regional organiser.

Key facts

If you suspect unlawful activity at work, you may want to inform someone about it.
Workers should only blow the whistle when they have sufficient hard evidence and they cannot use the usual grievance procedure.
Workers who blow the whistle are protected from detriment and unfair dismissal.
For disclosures to be protected by law, workers must make them to the right person, in the right way and not for personal gain.