Protect November Newsletter

Dear , 

In this month’s edition: 

• Focus on Fraud: All employers need to step up, or face consequences 
• Intervention by Protect safeguards “Injury to Feelings” compensation

• Hit for six – a cricketing whistleblower backs Protect’s campaign 

For several years in a row, research has shown that fraud is most often uncovered through tip-offs including from employees. November has put a focus on fraud awareness – and has seen the publication of guidance on the new corporate crime of 'failing to prevent fraud'. Protect was heavily consulted during the writing of this and we are very pleased to see that whistleblowing is referenced throughout - including the need for robust policies, training, and board level accountability to oversee whistleblowing. Additionally Protect is name-checked several times in the document and listed as the go-to place for any organisation developing their whistleblowing procedures.

This month saw the judgment in a case in which we intervened that considered whether whistleblowers should continue to receive awards for “injury to feelings” – a type of compensation to address the emotional suffering caused by acts of victimisation by employers. This has been a crucial remedy for whistleblowers for the last 20 years, so we were very pleased that the judge decided not to disturb the settled position. We are very grateful for the assistance provided by Paul Jennings at Bates Wells and Betsan Criddle KC of Old Square Chambers in this important intervention. 

And finally, I am very pleased to welcome a new intake of Trustees to Protect joining our Board this month. I wish a warm welcome to: Damien O’Flaherty, a Director at the economics consultancy Frontier Economics; Gayle Sparkes, who has held senior roles in the Financial Services sector over the past 20 years and is currently Global Head of Conduct Risk at Citi Bank; Mallory Gelb, who brings experience from communications and journalism and Steve Murdoch, a management consultant who blew the whistle while working in the charity sector. I look forward to their contributions and challenges to help all of us at Protect over the coming years. 

Elizabeth Gardiner, CEO 

New hope for NHS whistleblowers 

A duty of candour, dismissal and barred from working in the NHS – all new measures being considered for NHS managers who silence whistleblowers or endanger patients through misconduct. We support this government consultation and want to see plans for effective enforcement. A culture where staff aren’t just ignored but are victimised, should be of real concern when considering patient safety. Too many scandals reveal that staff knew that there was something wrong but were either too afraid to speak up or, if they did come forward, were ignored. Managers, Directors and senior Board members who block or victimise whistleblowers must be included in this review. A duty of candour requiring all staff to speak up can only really shift the culture if failing to act on these warnings is a disciplinary issue.  

Who is a whistleblower? – no good news 

A blow for whistleblowing law reform this month as the Employment Minister, Justin Madders, confirmed the government has “no plans” to expand whistleblower protections to more people in the workplace. This is despite the recent ruling by an Employment Appeal Tribunal judge that.

“There was a strong argument that being a charity trustee, President-Elect and/or President is akin to an occupational status. The nature of the role, responsibilities and regulatory regime applied to charity trustees is strongly suggestive of a status.” 

In the UK we’re falling behind on whistleblower protections, despite promises to keep pace with workers’ rights following Brexit. If the UK had implemented the EU whistleblowing directive, we’d already have everyone in the workplace within the scope of whistleblowing law – including hundreds of thousands of people currently frozen out of protection, including trustees, job applicants, self-employed contractors and others.  

At Protect we will continue to push for this change – and are using every possible available avenue to get the law amended.

Employment Rights Bill – the case for expanding whistleblowing protections 

With the government’s flagship Employment Rights Bill in Parliament, we are working to persuade MPs and the Government to back our amendments and make sure this bill includes strengthened whistleblowing protections. We warmly welcome the government’s step to extend the time limit for all tribunal cases from three to six months. For our campaign action we organised a group of high profile and influential whistleblowers to back our campaign. Led by the Yorkshire cricket racism whistleblower Azeem Rafiq, and supported by the Olympus whistleblower, Michael Woodford and Greater Manchester Police whistleblower, Maggie Oliver, the group have called on ministers to force firms to investigate employees’ concerns. In a letter to The Independent, they say: “Whistleblowing has been the common thread linking the recent public inquiries into Infected Blood, the Grenfell Tower fire and the Post Office Scandal. But whistleblowing concerns fell on deaf ears in each of these cases.” 

Moral Maze 

Protect Council member and Foreign Office civil servant whistleblower Josie Stewart was featured on the BBC Radio 4 programme – the Moral Maze this month – presenting her thinking on the topic of “Loyalty”. We would describe blowing the whistle as the ultimate act of loyalty – for standing up for the public interest and putting a stop to wrongdoing – while others may view it as betrayal. 

Josie told the programme that when she became a whistleblower, she acted intuitively because the issues at stake where so serious. She said “I just knew that what was happening was wrong. There was no real deciding for me in the moment, it felt clear that my ultimate loyalty was to the public interest and it was only afterwards that on recognising the conflict and trauma of what I’d done, I felt the real emotional impact.”