BETTER REGULATORS GUIDE
What is the Guide about?
This “Principles for Recommended Practice: Better Regulators” guide aims to demonstrate how effective whistleblowing practices can enhance the ability of regulatory bodies to carry out their functions.
The guide is applicable to regulators, law enforcement bodies and professional bodies, including those beyond the Prescribed Person list. Protect recognises the diversity between regulators, and that one size does not fit all.
It outlines six principles as key areas for ensuring whistleblowing practice maximises intelligence, and minimises harm to those raising concerns.
Is your regulator compliant?
Since 2018, it has been compulsory for formally recognised regulatory bodies to publish an annual report in relation to the whistleblowing disclosures they have received and the action they have taken as a result. See if your sector’s regulator has been compliant in the past year.
Protect’s Better Regulators campaign
We embarked on our Better Regulators campaign two years ago, publishing our first Better Regulators League Table in 2018. The campaign aims to:
- Increase transparency in how regulators engage with whistleblowers
- Raise standards in the way whistleblowers are handled
- Support regulators to achieve the most effective practices possible by understanding their challenges
We thank all those who have been involved in the round tables and provided feedback which has given rise to an understanding of the different ways good practice can be implemented, and how to meet the various challenges along the way. We look forward to continuing our dialogue with those in regulation and collaborating to promote whistleblowing best practice throughout all sectors.
Effective whistleblowing works for everyone.
The Six Principles for Handling Whistleblowing
- Accessibility and Awareness: how regulators and professional bodies can improve the flow of information to their own systems
- The Importance of Confidentiality: for both regulators and professional bodies
- Feedback: provide feedback so information flows between the regulator/professional body and whistleblower
- Addressing Victimisation: when and how to address a situation where a whistleblower has been victimised
- Requirements for Regulated Entities: improving internal whistleblowing standards in the organisations regulators oversee
- Whistleblowing and Professional Duties: the challenges of holding professionals to account where they ignore concerns or victimise a whistleblower