A whistleblowing charity is to be compensated by the DTI, after it was criticised by the parliamentary ombudsman for the way it handled requests for information.
The department has apologised and offered compensation to Public Concern at Work, following an investigation into the charity’s complaints by the ombudsman Ann Abraham.
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In her report she accused the DTI of maladministration, serious shortcomings, being secretive and providing “inherently misleading” signals to the charity during its five-year battle to get more information about whistleblowing cases into the public domain.
The case centred on the charity’s efforts to access more information on cases where whistleblowers launched unfair dismissal cases. It argued that details of potentially serious fraud cases were being hidden by hearings limited to compensation.
