Our Impact

In 2025, Protect continued to stand at the frontline of whistleblowing in the UK.

At a time of increasing political division, regulatory pressure and high-profile public scandals, speaking up has never been more important – or more risky.

Whistleblowers expose fraud, protect vulnerable people, prevent financial collapse, and safeguard public safety. Yet 71% of the people who contacted our Advice Line this year reported experiencing victimisation, bullying, suspension or dismissal.

Protect exists to ensure that those who speak up are not left to face the consequences alone.

Impact in 2025

Protect’s Advice Line is the only specialist whistleblowing legal advice service of its kind in the UK.

We provide free, confidential guidance to workers navigating complex ethical dilemmas – from frontline care workers to Chief Executives.

We do more than explain the law. We help people decide how to raise concerns safely, understand their legal protections, and prepare for the realities that may follow.

Growing Demand

In 2025 we supported:

3,589 new cases (an 8% increase on 2024)
19,654 total interactions via phone and email

Demand continues to rise as workplace pressures intensify and public trust depends increasingly on individuals speaking up.

What Whistleblowers Told Us

While some employers are improving their response to concerns, serious problems remain:

38% said their concerns were ignored
71% reported victimisation, dismissal, suspension or forced resignation

Encouragingly, more callers told us their employer had begun investigating their concerns – but the pace of change is slow.

Read 2025 Impact Report now

Download now

Legal Interventions

In 2025, Protect continued to stand up for whistleblowers in the appellate courts, intervening in two significant Court of Appeal cases to defend and clarify key legal protections. In Sullivan v Isle of Wight Council, we highlighted the serious gap in the law that leaves most job applicants without whistleblowing protection, despite evidence from our Advice Line that many are effectively blacklisted after speaking up. The Court confirmed that reform in this area must come from Parliament. We also intervened in Treadwell (with Rice v Wicked Vision) to defend the long-standing principle that individual decision-makers can be personally liable for whistleblower detriment, a protection previously confirmed in Timis v Osipov. While the Court maintained the status quo, the issue has now been referred to the Supreme Court. Through these interventions, supported by pro bono counsel, Protect ensures that the real-world experiences of whistleblowers inform the development of UK law at the highest level.

Anticorruption

In 2025, Protect strengthened its anti-corruption work, ensuring whistleblowing remains central to national integrity efforts. Through a dedicated workstream funded by the Joffe Charitable Trust, we deepened collaboration with the UK Anti-Corruption Coalition and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Anti-Corruption and Fairer Taxation, and contributed directly to the Government’s new Anti-Corruption Strategy via engagement with the Joint Anti-Corruption Unit. The strategy includes a commitment to review whistleblowing protections by 2027 – a significant opportunity for reform. Alongside this, we supported the intent of the Public Office (Accountability) Bill – commonly known as the “Hillsborough Law” – which introduces a statutory Duty of Candour on public authorities to prevent institutional cover-ups. While welcoming this step, we continued to campaign for explicit whistleblower protections and a legal duty on public bodies to investigate concerns properly, pressing for stronger safeguards to ensure transparency is matched by protection for those who speak up.

Redefining whistleblowing in business

Engagement with employers continued to grow steadily in 2025, reflecting increasing recognition that effective whistleblowing systems are essential to good governance.

75 new employers engaged during the year
11 new organisations joined as members
64 organisations accessed consultancy, training or benchmarking support
Membership now stands at 218 organisations

Protect’s Membership programme plays a central role in shaping workplace culture. Members gain access to Protect’s expertise via benchmarking through the Protect Standard, practical tools and policy guidance, and opportunities for peer learning with other organisations facing similar challenges. By bringing employers together as a community of practice, we help translate legal requirements and research into stronger internal processes – ensuring concerns are handled properly, investigated fairly, and used as opportunities for organisational learning rather than risk.

Wider Impact

Protect’s impact reaches beyond advice and legal reform. In 2025, we continued to shape national debate and professional practice through sector engagement and collaboration.

We hosted a Charity Sector Breakfast Briefing (40 attendees), a senior employer roundtable with Mayer Brown (20 organisations), and a World Whistleblowers Day event attended by more than 350 people online and in person. We also produced new whistleblowing guidance for in-house lawyers on behalf of the Law Society, helping strengthen ethical decision-making within organisations.

Funding Our Work

Protect is a charity. While employer services fund much of our work, grants and donations are essential to sustaining our free Advice Line and independent policy work.

We are hugely grateful for the wonderful organisations who have funded our work in 2025 as well as the individuals who donated, fundraised, or left a legacy gift, and everyone who supported our London Legal Walk efforts.