The government is consulting on bringing in US-style financial incentives to reward whistleblowers who report economic crimes, as well as requiring employers by law to have “appropriate and effective” procedures in place for handling whistleblowing disclosures.
The consultation is being led by the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, along with the Home Office, Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and Attorney General’s office. It will run until 8 January 2027.
The proposals are part of a wide range of options being considered for reforms to whistleblowing rules under the Employment Rights Act and follow debate last year about whether whistleblowers should be paid by the authorities for information.
HM Revenue and Customs last year introduced Britain’s first reward scheme for whistleblowing, the Strengthened Reward Scheme, offering informants up to 30% of the tax recovered in major cases.
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Under the consultation, the government has highlighted that compensation or incentive schemes already operate in a number of countries, including the US and Canada.
They can improve the quantity and quality of reporting of corporate misconduct, such as fraud, bribery and money laundering, it argued.
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