Protect has put its name to an international civil society letter: The signatories to this letter call on all public authorities and institutions to protect those who report or expose the harms, abuses and serious wrongdoing that arise during this period of crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We also encourage all citizens and workers … Read more
We are delighted our Government lobbying has paid off with an amendment to Section 105 of the Utilities Act 2000. This Section was introduced to protect national security interests and commercial secrets but lacked any protection for whistleblowers in the regulated energy sector from speaking out about wrongdoing – and if they did – they … Read more
Protect, has today (March 19) announced the appointment of Liz Gardiner as its new Chief Executive. Liz, who joined Protect as Legal Officer in July 2018, has been Acting Chief Executive at the charity since December last year when Francesca West stood down. Liz said, “I am delighted and honoured to be working for such … Read more
As part of a series of sector specific round tables, Protect, together with hosts Mayer Brown, brought together whistleblowing specialists from insurance firms large and small earlier this month. The seminar, introduced by Pete Chapman of Baker Mackenzie and Chris Chapman of Mayer Brown, set out why whistleblowing matters to insurance firms. Firms need to … Read more
The launch of two backbench bills this year has kick started a Parliamentary debate about whether there should be a regulator, commissioner or ombudsman overseeing whistleblowing. In February, Dr Phillipa Whitford, MP for Central Ayrshire, launched her Public Interest Disclosure (Protection) Bill in the House of Commons, and Baroness Kramer launched her Office of the … Read more
Protect is hosting a round table breakfast for the insurance sector at law firm Mayer Brown with Mike Carpenter (former Group Financial Crime Risk Director at Legal and General), Paul Boyle OBE (Chairman of Protect), and Chris Chapman (Compliance Partner at Mayer Brown). Together, they will be discussing a number of topics around speak-up cultures, … Read more
Financial service workers who have blown the whistle on workplace wrongdoing will be the focus of new research by Protect and law firm Slater and Gordon. The research is to find out whether the FCA’s rules on whistleblowing have made a difference to whistleblowers’ experiences. Head of Policy at Protect, Andrew Pepper-Parsons will work with … Read more
Protect welcomes the launch of Dr Whitford MP’s private members bill – Public Interest Disclosure (Protection) Bill as an important step towards reforming the legal protection for whistleblowers. Protect Acting Chief Executive, Liz Gardiner, said, “We’ve been calling for legislative reform as today’s whistleblowing law is out of date, so we are delighted that Dr … Read more
Protect and law firm Howard Kennedy joined forces for a successful secondment, offering a three-month secondment to Protect’s trainee solicitor, Hari Raithatha, and Howard Kennedy’s trainee solicitor, Diarra Brown. So, how did they get on, and what did they both learn? Qu: What did you do, and what did you learn? Hari: Being at … Read more
I joined Protect as a volunteer just after I finished my Legal Practice Course and although I had only a basic grasp of aspects of employment law, Protect’s work really appealed to me. Summarising Employment Tribunal judgments and highlighting the relevant discussions of the Public Interest Disclosure Act seemed daunting at first, but after an … Read more
