At the end of last year new legislation was brought in to implement The Whistleblower Directive (2019/1937) (the Directive). Within the remaining 27 EU member states, companies and public bodies with 250 or more employees must implement an internal reporting system. Despite the UK no longer being an EU state, there could still be a significant impact on UK businesses, as Peter Nicholson, legal director and solicitor specialising in employment law at Nelsons, discusses.

Previous whistleblower protection across EU member states has been described as ‘fragmented’ and ‘uneven’. Therefore, the core purpose of the new Directive is to lay ‘common minimum standards providing for a high level of protection of persons reporting breaches of Union law’ according to article one.

Much of the Directive’s content is already reflected in the UK, as The European Commission recognises the comprehensive protection to whistleblowers under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, as incorporated into the Employment Rights Act 1996. However, there are still some key differences.

Scope

The Directive goes further than UK law. Whereas the latter protects just employees and workers, the Directive covers self-employed people, shareholders and board members, including non-executive directors, as well as ‘facilitators’, such as colleagues and relatives, and legal entities associated with the whistleblower. This could mean that a whistleblower’s employer, such as an external supplier, would have legal...

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