The UK Government has recently published a consultation on whether improvements should be made to the whistleblowing regime established through the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (“PIDA”), (which amended the Employment Rights Act 1996 (“ERA”)) to protect workers who report wrongdoing from dismissal and other forms of retaliation by their employer. The ERA has in turn been further amended since, including broadening the definition of “worker”, removing the requirement for disclosures to be made “in good faith”, introducing a requirement that disclosures must be made “in the public interest” and most recently, amendments in April 2026 which clarified that disclosures relating to sexual harassment can now qualify for whistleblowing protection.
The new consultation suggests changes might be appropriate in the following areas.
Those to whom the protections extend are already widely drawn, including not only workers (including employees) but also agency workers, trainees or those undertaking work experience, student nurses and student midwives, job applicants for certain NHS roles, members of a limited liability partnerships and judicial office holders.
Some stakeholders have suggested extensions to include charity trustees, non-executive directors, volunteers, job applicants (outside the NHS) and certain self-employed individuals.
The government’s initial view is that some groups commonly suggested for inclusion, such as volunteers, may not...
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