The City of Edinburgh Council received an increase in whistleblower complaints at the end of 2021, according to a March 7 article in The Edinburgh Reporter.
The council uses Safecall, an “external whistle-blowing service for staff to bring forward allegations of misconduct and malpractice.” Safecall reported to councillors that between October and December of 2021, it received “21 new disclosures.” In comparison, Safecall received seven disclosures from January to March, “eight from July to September.”
In 2021, Safecall received 48 complaints, which is “the highest annual figure since the service was introduced in 2014,” the article states. 12 of the disclosures were regarding “unfair treatment,” while another 12 disclosures “were to do with the council staff’s ‘general safety.’”
“Six were allegations of bullying, six flagged a lack of integrity and complaints were also made about fraud, policy, reputation, substance abuse and disinformation,” the article states.
Reporter Donald Turvill posits that the increase in whistleblower complaints could partially stem from “the publication of two independent reports which looked at the council’s organisational culture and whistle-blowing procedures, carried out by Susanne Tanner, QC.” The reports examined the conduct of the late Sean Bell, a former senior social worker. The report aimed to ascertain how the behavior of Bell, “who was exposed as a serial abuser prior to his death whilst facing criminal charges in 2020, went...
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