Companies would be compelled to investigate all complaints made by employees under plans put forward by a cross-party group of politicians to create new legal protections for whistleblowers.

Former ministers from all three main Westminster parties will back an amendment to Labour’s Employment Rights Bill next week that would significantly strengthen the power of whistleblowing.

The amendment would introduce a legal duty on all employers to investigate complaints made by an employee about alleged bullying or harassment in the workplace.

At present, employers are under no legal obligation to investigate complaints. Whistleblowers are only protected by law if they disclose information that is in the public interest and relates to a narrow list of qualifying complaints. This applies to reporting a criminal offence such as fraud, health and safety concerns, environmental damage, a miscarriage of justice or covering up wrongdoing.

Whistleblowers are not protected for personal grievances such as bullying, harassment or discrimination in the workplace unless there is a public interest.

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Labour had given campaigners hope that their plans to bolster workers’ rights would include new legal protections for whistleblowers. However, the Employment Rights Bill published last week only contained a limited section on whistleblowing, by adding sexual harassment to the list of disclosures that qualify for protection. .

Sir Robert Buckland, the former Conservative justice...

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