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Protect Newsletter
Dear
Whistleblowing might not be the biggest issue dominating the debates ahead of the general election but that’s not to say the parties are ignoring it completely.
While it may have been buried in the bottom of some of the parties’ manifestos you’ll be pleased to hear we’ve done the hard work – so you don’t have to – to pick out the key policies and commitments relating to whistleblowing.
Also this month:
- How the Worker Protection Act affects you
- Protect wins big at the Legal ESG Awards
- BBC Casualty whistleblowing storyline
Read on for an overview of what’s being promised by each political party.
Labour
Starting with Labour, they say they’ll strengthen the rights and protections available to whistleblowers in the workplace, including on sexual harassment. They’re also promising to implement their ‘Plan to Make Work Pay: Delivering a New Deal for Working People’ within their first 100 days in power which bans exploitative zero hours contracts, fire and rehire, and introduces basic rights from day one (including protection from unfair dismissal). An employment bill provides a critical opportunity to push for further whistleblowing reforms.
In a departure from the official Labour manifesto, the Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting has given a number of media interviews saying he’ll tackle the toxic cover-up culture in the NHS by giving new legal protections to NHS whistleblowers and make it easier to sack rogue managers. This fits with Protect’s policy calls that senior managers and directors need to be held to account when the organisation is found to have ignored or victimised whistleblowers.
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats stand alone in pledging to establish a new Office of the Whistleblower, creating new legal protections, and promoting greater public awareness of their rights. The Lib Dems also plan to pass a comprehensive ‘Anti-SLAPP Law’ to provide robust protection for free speech, whistleblowers and media scrutiny – something we have supported for some time.
Conservatives
The Conservatives have pledged to carefully consider the implications of the long-awaited review of the whistleblowing framework for the NHS and consult on a disbarring regime for NHS managers. They’ve also promised to improve standards in councils by making their performance more transparent through the Office for Local Government. While we wait for detail on the proposals we welcome both policy ideas.
Green
While the Green’s manifesto doesn’t profile any specific commitments on whistleblowing, it does include promises relating to employment rights more generally, including introducing equal employment rights for all workers from their first day of employment, including those working in the ‘gig economy’ and on zero-hours contracts.
Plaid Cymru
There’s also nothing specific to whistleblowing in the Plaid Cymru manifesto, however they do pledge to implement sweeping employment protections ranging from legislation to tackle insecure work to abolishing compulsory zero-hours contracts.
SNP
With central pledges to deliver independence for Scotland and rejoin the EU, the SNP would then bring the country’s workers under the protection of the EU Whistleblower Directive. The SNP say they would also devolve employment rights and the minimum wage, scrap zero hours contracts, ban ‘fire and rehire’ practices and take action to close the gender pay gap.
Reform UK
Whistleblowing does not feature in the Reform UK manifesto – but they do reference employment rights in their promise to “Slash Red Tape to Boost Industry and Exports”. They say they will “scrap thousands of laws that hold back British business and damage productivity, including employment laws.”
Whatever the outcome of the election, Protect will be on the frontfoot to ensure our next government is prioritising whistleblowing and the rights of whistleblowers. We also eagerly await the recommendations from the long-awaited whistleblowing framework review.
Andrew Pepper-Parsons
Director of Policy and Communications
June is always a significant month in the whistleblowing calendar with the inclusion of World Whistleblowers Day on the 23rd. This year we organised a webinar, alongside workplace culture experts Focal Point Training, exploring the role of whistleblowing in addressing workplace sexual harassment. The session provided an update on the new Worker Protection Act that comes into force in October this year and addressed specific questions on how to create an effective speak-up or whistleblowing system. Check out the key points from the webinar and what you need to know about the Worker Protection Act at our dedicated blog.
We also used the month across social media to define and unpack some of the key terms and terminology surrounding whistleblowing. Our #AtoZofWhistleblowing ran across Twitter, Linkedin and Instagram.
BBC Casualty
Committed fans of BBC One’s Casualty have been gripped by a thrilling whistleblowing storyline in recent weeks. The drama featured a controversial documentary exposé including secretly recorded footage and an internal witch hunt for a whistleblower. We were approached by the show’s writers as far back as last Spring to help advise and consult on their story ideas and scripts. We’re immensely proud of our involvement in the programme’s “Breaking Point” episodes – and how the storyline turned out. If you missed it, you can catch up on BBC iPlayer.
Protect out and about
Another busy month of speaking engagements and presentations for the Protect team.
We began the month with our Environmental Governance and Whistleblowing breakfast briefing discussing how employers can stay true to their environmental commitments. Huge thanks to Slaughter and May to hosting us.
Our Legal Director attended the Legal ESG conference which took a deep dive into the most pressing ESG challenges in-house legal leaders face. Sybille was also at the International Forum of Senior Executive Advisers (IFSEA) conference this month delivering a speedy, quick-fire session on the latest developments in whistleblowing. Meanwhile Protect’s Director of Policy, Andrew Pepper-Parsons delivered a bespoke session for Lloyds Banking Group on key areas of whistleblowing policy and attended the BMA’s Medico-Legal Committee conference – which looked at legal matters affecting doctors working as expert witnesses.
If you’re looking for a whistleblowing expert to speak at your next event please do get in touch.
ESG award
This month we also picked up the award for the best In-House Legal team at the inaugural Legal ESG Awards. The award recognises outstanding ESG leadership within an organisation and we were praised for spearheading our Environmental Whistleblowing Toolkit – providing an accessible guide for anyone considering blowing the whistle on environmental grounds.
Where do whistleblowing and ESG overlap? And how can whistleblowing help you to optimise your ESG strategy?
Join us for our Whistleblowing & ESG masterclass on July 11
London Legal Walk 2024
Thank you to everyone who supported us in the London Legal Support Trust London Legal Walk this month. We had a fantastic afternoon walking through the Royal Parks and were really pleased to be joined by our trustees Lucy McLynn, David Widdowson and Frances Morris-Jones. Thank you to everyone who has donated so far - your support makes a huge difference to our work and ability to help whistleblowers with free and confidential legal advice. If you’d like to support us you can follow the link here:
Impact Report
2023 was a significant year for Protect as we marked our 30th anniversary and saw a sharp increase in calls to our free legal advice line. We worked on a total of 3047 cases, which represented a rise of 23% on 2022.
Our 2023 Impact & Annual Report illustrates how we are making a difference to the lives of whistleblowers across the UK and features key stats and case studies to illustrate how our work is making a difference.
It may sound incongruous but with Swiftie-fever sweeping the nation (and yes, even some of the team in our office), we’ve found ourselves asking whether there’s anything Taylor Swift can teach us about whistleblowing. From encouraging whistleblowers to Speak Now, to organisations prioritising their Reputation – we found some surprising coded messages in the pop megastar’s song titles and lyrics. Check out our Taylor Swift blog for more!
