The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has been added to the “prescribed persons” list under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA)[1]. PIDA inserted provisions on whistleblowing into the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA).

This means that whistleblowers who work within firms, or for individuals, who are regulated by the SRA will be given greater protection from the potential risk of retaliatory action by their employer after making qualifying disclosures to the SRA.

For a disclosure to the SRA under s43F of ERA to be qualifying and protected, the individual making it must reasonably believe that:

• The matter falls within the SRA’s remit, and
• The information disclosed is substantially true.

For the avoidance of doubt, this protection extends beyond SRA-regulated individuals (who have a duty to report serious breaches or misconduct within the legal sector to the SRA) to anyone who works for, or in association with, an SRA regulated firm or person, i.e. Paralegals, Clerks, Trainees, Secretaries, and agency workers.

The SRA is hopeful that this designation will give legal professionals the confidence to report wrongdoing without concerns that doing so will impact their careers.[2]

This is because s47B of ERA provides that a worker must not be subject to any detriment because they have made a protected disclosure, and s103A provides that an employee will be automatically regarded as unfairly dismissed if the reason, or the principal reason, for their dismissal is...

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