Companies could be compelled to investigate a much broader range of complaints made by employees than currently, under new proposals from cross-party politicians.
Politicians, including former justice secretary and Conservative MP Sir Robert Buckland and Labour life peer Margaret Hodge, are looking to create new legal protections for whistleblowers through an amendment, to be tabled next week, to the government’s Employment Rights Bill.
The amendment is being campaigned for by whistleblowing charity Protect, which argues that the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 is out of date.
The amendment would: expand the types of worker permitted to make protected disclosures; ensure that all employers would have to meet standards; and reduce the burden whistleblowers face at the employment tribunal to ensure whistleblowers can enforce their legal rights.
Whistleblowing
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At present, whistleblowers must be employees or workers, must make a disclosure of information, and must reasonably believe the concern to be in the public interest.
They are only protected by the Public Interest Disclosure Act if they disclose information which is in the public interest.
Such “protected disclosures” include criminal offences, health and safety concerns, environmental damage, a miscarriage of justice or covering up wrongdoing.
The Employment Rights Bill published last week added sexual harassment to the list of disclosures that qualify for protection but did not go as far as many campaigners had wished.
Buckland, Hodge and Alistair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrat MP and former cabinet minister, argue that the amendment will significantly change the culture in workplaces for whistleblowers and ensure many more harms and risks are identified early.
Hodge, who carried out various whistleblowing inquiries as chairwoman of the Public Accounts Committee, said: “The time has come for larger employers to be compelled to investigate whistleblowing claims.
“We have seen far too often how companies avoid looking into difficult circumstances in the hope they go away, which, of course, means the problem festers and whistleblowers are demonised. As a beacon of democracy, the UK should be leading the world in whistleblowing legislation, not catching up with our European neighbours.”
Buckland said the move would benefit the nation’s economy: “An amendment along these lines would not just be good business practice, it would support business growth. Ignoring – or being ignorant of – problems can only demoralise the workforce, harming productivity. There is support across the main parties, so there is no reason for the government not to accept this amendment.”
Carmichael said: “Enshrining a duty for employers to investigate whistleblowing claims is vital in tackling issues like institutionalised racism and workplace bullying. This is the first time since the Employment Rights Act 1996 that a government has a genuine opportunity to protect whistleblowers, and ministers must take it. Work must be a place of tolerance, not fear.”
Elizabeth Gardiner, chief executive of Protect, said: “There’s still a missing link in the chain between whistleblowing law and preventing harm to people and the country.
“When you speak up in the workplace, action should be taken – employers should be under a duty to investigate. Forty per cent of the callers to Protect’s whistleblowing advice line say when they’ve spoken up they’ve been ignored. Their concerns fall into a black hole, and the opportunity to stop harm is lost.
“This Employment Rights Bill should be the vehicle for change to give workers the confidence and legal backing that when they blow the whistle, action will be taken.”
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