Home » Blog » So what protection do you get from being a whistle blower?

Ideally, organisations would have a culture of open reporting, so that, where a disclosure is made, people know what the concern is and who raised it. However, most organisations are unable to create an environment where all employees feel comfortable about making a disclosure openly. Potential whistle blowers often state that they fear reprisals and that they are willing to disclose information only where there is complete confidentiality.

However, employers cannot always guarantee confidentiality. In some circumstances, they are required to report a criminal offence to a third party. Further, the nature of the concern and/or the investigation following the disclosure may enable people to guess the identity of the whistleblower.

To address this, the whistleblowing policy and procedure could state that, where a worker makes a disclosure, the organisation will maintain confidentiality where possible, but that this cannot be guaranteed in all cases. Further, all stages of the procedure could emphasise the importance of maintaining confidentiality, to encourage recipients of concerns and investigators to keep matters confidential, and workers to report wrongdoing. The employer could make it a disciplinary offence to breach confidentiality, unless there is a good reason for doing so.

Anonymity

From the whistle blower’s perspective, making a disclosure anonymously may be seen as a relatively low-risk way of raising a concern. However, a person’s identity can sometimes be deduced from the evidence or the circumstances.

From the employer’s point of view, an anonymous disclosure may be suspicious, particularly if the employer has given assurances about confidentiality. From a practical perspective, anonymous allegations are likely to be more difficult to investigate, and protection against reprisals and feedback can be afforded only to identifiable individuals.

Therefore, employers should promote open reporting, combined with an assurance that confidentiality will be maintained as far as possible. However, they should not ignore anonymous reports. An anonymous disclosure may, for example, alert the employer to a risk of death or injury, and those who feel that they cannot raise a concern internally may be tempted to disseminate the information via “leakers'” websites, which supposedly guarantee protection against reprisals. Employers should explain that they encourage open reporting and the reasons for this, and that anonymous disclosures should be made as an alternative to remaining silent about wrongdoing. Some employers provide a “hotline” for the purpose of anonymous reporting.

As mentioned in last week’s blog whistleblowing you can claim unfair dismissal, it doesn’t matter how long you have been employed for.

If you need help with whistle blowing then please contact us on 07810 563 676.

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