Will you be Ready When the Whistle Blows

Will you be Ready When the Whistle Blows?

By Malcolm Gardner

Contents

Introduction

The Law

Conclusion

Contacts

At the beginning of July 1999 the governments long awaited Public Interest Disclosure Act to become law. The Act known as the Whistleblowing Bill is an important piece of legislation that undoubtedly will be ignored by the public and private sector alike.

However, organisations ignore it at their peril. Conservative MP Richard Shepherd introduced the Act into Parliament as a private member's bill. The detail and scope of the bill was influenced by the charities Public Concern at Work and the Campaign for the Freedom of Information.

Public Concern at Work have worked closely with Audit Commission and the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) to produce a Whistleblowing pack for local authorities. The pack explains why the whistleblowing is important and contains a draft policy and training material.

CIPFA believes that this is a crucial piece of legislation and urges its members to comply quickly with the Act. In its White Paper Local Leadership, Local Choice the government urges local authorities to re-evaluate their whistleblowing procedures. The White Paper followed the recommendation made by the Nolan Committee that every local authority needed to have proper whistleblowing procedures in place.

The Local Government Association (LGA) too has given its support to whistleblowing and has made it an essential feature of the policy chapter in their Fraud Book.

The Benefit Fraud Inspectorate has also made strong recommendation for whistleblowing and expects to see it in place when making their inspections of councils.

CIPFA's Fraud and Corruption Panel will be running a one-day seminar on the impacts of Protection for Whistle Blowers in Public Services on 22 July. Among the speakers will be Guy Dehn of PCAW and Derek Purdy of the Audit Commission.

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The Law

The Public Interest Disclosure Act has been described by US Campaigners as the most far-reaching whistleblowing law in the world. The act itself is clear and simple to follow. It sets out a framework for employees concerned about wrongdoing at work to be able to express those concerns with protection. Employers who dismiss or victimize employees for blowing the whistle could have unlimited compensation award against them. This will not be the case that the employer could assume that they take the quick route through an Industrial Tribunal Board with little fear. Instead, they could find themselves subject to real losses. Moving troublesome staff to whatever equivalent of the Siberian Front will not work and could leave the employer open to prosecution and embarrassing publicity. However, it should be noted that staff would only be protected if they can prove that the accusations were made in good faith.

An employee will be protected if, when making the accusation ,they reasonably believe that it was true.

The legislation is broad and it protects staff of UK companies both here and abroad. The Act will also serve as a defence against disciplinary procedures brought under the Official Secrets Act or Social Security Administration Act. It should be noted that the Act recognises the role that regulatory authorities and outside bodies can play -- this includes the media. However, protection will vary and before going to the press, a whistleblower and the media itself would have to show that other options such as internal procedures or a regulatory body has not dealt with the matter properly. Alternatively, if the concern is exceptionally serious then disclosure to the media might be seen as reasonable.

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Conclusion

Organisations must have in place proper whistleblowing Procedures, and as quickly as possible. Failure to do so will result in heavy penalties and disclosures in the media. Attempts to suppress staff warning of malpractice has to stop. You ignore the warnings at your own peril.

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Contacts