When someone blows the whistle at work they rightly expect action will be taken and their concerns will be followed up and investigated.
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It takes courage to call out something that doesn’t look right – and whistleblowers provide a gift of information to their employer so they can stop what’s happening, whether it’s financial fraud or sexual harassment.
But currently there is a gap in the law that means employers don’t have to do anything at all. Too often, rather than the wrongdoing, it’s the whistleblower who gets investigated, a classic case of shooting the messenger.
But there is an opportunity to change this with the government’s landmark Employment Rights Bill moving through Parliament – and cross-party support is growing to make sure whistleblowing gets the attention it needs.
At Protect we talk to whistleblowers everyday – providing free and confidential legal advice. Last year 2 in 5 of our callers (40%) said their whistleblowing concern had been ignored by their employer.
On top of that more than two thirds (68%) said they faced victimisation or felt forced to resign after speaking up to stop harm.
From the Post Office Horizon IT scandal to the Grenfell fire tragedy scandals have a factor in common: whistleblowers tried to speak up but were ignored or supressed.
It isn’t just employers who lose out when whistleblowers aren’t heard – there's also a huge cost to the taxpayer picking up the pieces through public inquiries or...
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