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It is all but inevitable that UK enforcement agencies will start paying for information about organisational misconduct. In the US, whistleblower reward schemes have generated tens of billions of dollars in fines and vastly simplified the investigation of complex economic crime. In the UK, longstanding opposition has now reversed. The SFO has announced proposals for a reward scheme that would match the incentives offered in the US, and the FCA is considering following suit. Lessons from the iterative development of such schemes provide these agencies with a blueprint that should ensure the effectiveness of UK schemes. Meanwhile, the additional protections for whistleblowers provided in the Office of the Whistleblower Bill currently progressing through Parliament would accelerate their take-up. Finally, ever-increasing access to litigation funding provides fertile ground for the proliferation of “no-win, no-fee” whistleblower firms, further driving the success of reward schemes.
Organisations may wish to respond by doubling down on efforts to incentivise employees to report misconduct internally, reassessing the sources being used to identify and report employee “speak-up” concerns. Additional data may already be available, e.g. from exit interviews or Glassdoor reviews. When considering actions to take in response, we suggest particular thought be given to anti-retaliation reassurances.
Organisations with best-practice policies, procedures and training already...
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