News

The second reading of Dr Philippa Whitford’s Public Interest Disclosure (Protection) Bill 2019-21 took place in the House of Commons on Friday, 25 September and received cross-party support with Dr Whitford MP saying,“This is not a party political issue; whistleblowing exists in every sector, in every nation. We should recognise the need to deal with … Read more

This Friday, 25 September, the second reading of the Public Interest Disclosure (Protection) Bill 2019-21, a private members bill put forward by Dr Philippa Whitford MP of the Scottish National Party, will take place. If you care about whistleblowers, and think that the law needs to change, please urge your MP to attend the debate. … Read more

 Protect is hosting a Whistleblowing Masterclass aimed at insurance sector professionals on 8 October 9:30am – 1:30pm. Taking participants though a highly informative, interactive programme with break out sessions, we enable each person to learn from examples and case studies specific to the insurance sector. There will be opportunities to network with each other in … Read more

Protect features as the first guest on Whistleblowing Now and Then,  a new podcast co-hosted by Anna Myers, Executive Director of WIN (Whistleblowing International Network) and Vigjilenca Abazi, Assistant Professor of European Law at Maastricht University. The new podcast focuses on the most important issues of the day for whistleblowing, featuring interviews with experts, whistleblowers and … Read more

Protect has written to Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab calling on him to intervene in the case of Jonathan Taylor – a UK whistleblower who was arrested on holiday in Croatia on charges he denies. The 51 year-old lawyer from Southampton was arrested on 30 July 2020 and informed he was the subject of an Interpol … Read more

HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) has come under scrutiny in recent months, with reports of staff feeling intimidated, harassed and unsupported to raise concerns, in addition to escalating reports of dangerous activity and unrest in prison populations. A parliamentary debate in March 2020 on Prison Staff: Health and Safety highlighted many of these issues. … Read more

It’s widely acknowledged the UK’s whistleblowing law, the Public Interest Disclosure Act (PIDA, 1998) is in urgent need of reform. More people need to be protected, victimisation of whistleblowers has to stop and – crucially – the wrong doing or concern needs to be investigated – which currently PIDA is silent on. Whilst easy to … Read more

Protect are pleased to support workers by taking part in the Mayor of London’s Employment Rights Hub, equipping London’s workforce with knowledge about their rights at work and how to enforce them. In partnership with London-based civil society organisations, the Greater London Authority have produced twelve short videos answering frequently asked questions from Londoners about their … Read more

A report by the University of Greenwich examining employment tribunal outcomes between 2015-18 has revealed stark findings for women who whistleblow – that they are less likely to be represented or succeed. The report, Making Whistleblowing Work, commissioned by the All Party Parliamentary Group for Whistleblowing, examined 600 whistleblowing cases. The findings highlight the well-established … Read more

Protect has joined with  an international consortium of whistleblowing, human rights, and civil society campaigners calling for the immediate release of Jonathan Taylor, a whistleblower detained in Croatia as a result of an arrest notice issued by Monaco (see our news story here.…) . The letter  criticises employers who use such legal actions to stop … Read more

Protect has been successful in its calls to see HMRC re-open its fraud reporting hotline which has reopened after being closed since the start of the pandemic in March. We lobbied back in May for HMRC to re-open its fraud hotline, briefed politicians and the APPG (All Party Parliamentary Group) on Whistleblowing on the issue … Read more

Whistleblower Jonathan Taylor – who Protect has supported since 2015 – has been arrested at Dubrovnik Airport whilst in Croatia for a week’s holiday with his wife and three teenage children. Jonathan Taylor, 51, a lawyer from Southampton was arrested on 30 July and informed he was the subject of an Interpol Red Notice at … Read more

Policy Officer Laura Fatah represented Protect as a panellist at online event ‘To blow the whistle or not? A symposium on complicity and compliance in economic and social wrongdoing’ hosted by the University of York scholars James Killen, Zoë Porter, and whistleblower Ian Foxley. The event showcased the latest research in the field of whistleblowing and … Read more

We are pleased to see the Government give reassurance to whistleblowers raising concerns about Furlough Fraud.  Neither the proposed powers (in the Finance Bill) to recover money paid illegally through the scheme (formally called the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme) nor fraud charges will be levelled at those who raise these concerns. Background Furlough fraud makes … Read more

Click here to watch the recording of the report launch (access password is 5E=6B?H1)   Click here to watch this panel discussion

Whistleblowing charity Protect is calling for the Charity Commission to introduce whistleblowing rules or regulations for the sector, following serious failings at the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) – which the watchdog has called ‘one of the worst examples of poor governance and oversight having a direct impact on vulnerable people’. The Commission … Read more

Protect is seeking reassurance from HMRC that whistleblowers who contact the tax authority over furlough fraud will not be faced with paying back their employers’ fraud, or face prosecution if their employer forces them to work while on the scheme. Calls to Protect’s Advice Line have seen record-high levels, with  more than 250 calls related … Read more

Research by Protect – Silence in The City 2 –  into whistleblowers who work in finance in the City has found 70% who spoke up about workplace wrongdoing were victimised, ignored, dismissed, or felt forced to resign after whistleblowing. The research analyses the whistleblowing cases of 352 finance workers who called the Protect Advice Line … Read more

We would like to express our huge thanks to our Legal Support Network – made up of lawyers and barristers –who are helping us with case work for whistleblowers who have contacted us. Our Advice Line is extremely busy and we are experiencing unprecedented record high call levels. Our Advisers are taking calls from all … Read more

Protect’s Head of Policy, Andrew Pepper-Parsons features in the latest issue of Care Markets magazine, discussing how Covid-19 has affected the sector. Protect, the UK whistleblowing charity, helps whistleblowers safely raise concerns about wrongdoing, abuse or poor practice. We run an advice line where whistleblowers can call us for free confidential advice about how to … Read more

Protect’s pilot examining whistleblowing culture in the Third Sector has found key weak spots it believes are symptomatic across many of the 168,000 charities in England and Wales. Chief Executive, Liz Gardiner said, “The room for improvement in the Third Sector is well documented following the Oxfam and Save the Children scandals. But in recent … Read more

Survey findings of 150 health care staff by frontline lobbying group for doctors, The Doctors’ Association has highlighted the shocking treatment of NHS doctors who dared to blow the whistle on inadequate PPE supplies, which featured on BBC Newsnight this week. The survey respondents were made up of 25% of nurses and just under 25% … Read more

Protect is calling on the HMRC to reinstate its fraud hotline for whistleblowers who are trying to raise public interest concerns about misuse of taxpayers’ money. Protect, which handles around 3,000 whistleblowing cases to its Advice Line each year – has seen a spike in calls to its Advice Line in recent days on furlough … Read more

Our one-day Whistleblowing Masterclass has gone live online  – and our first training session has received great feedback from delegates. Like many organisations faced with new ways of working, the Protect team have worked hard to deliver our in-depth training on whistleblowing and best practice into an engaging online product. Our Legal Officer Hari Raithatha … Read more

Protect has today published guidance for regulators and professional bodies in a bid to drive up public duty standards to investigate and improve whistleblower handling. “Over 2019 our Better Regulators campaign set out to engage and collaborate with both regulators and professional bodies on how we could offer our whistleblowing expertise to see if we … Read more

Following the news that an employment tribunal has been lodged against Home Secretary Priti Patel under whistleblowing laws, Protect Chief Executive Liz Gardiner said the case showed how “whistleblowing laws can be used to hold even those in the highest office to account.” She said: “Far too often we see managers and senior personnel disregarding … Read more

The High Court has today handed down judgment and awarded whistleblower Amjad Rihan $10.8 m in damages against his former employer, Ernst and Young. Protect Chief Executive, Liz Gardiner said: “We’re pleased to see this award to Amjad Rihan, who courageously blew the whistle on serious financial irregularities and who suffered career-long losses as a … Read more

Protect is reassuring NHS workers it is just a phone call away. Protect Chief Executive Liz Gardiner said, “Whistleblowing is the best early-warning system in the NHS and now more than ever staff need to feel safe and supported when they speak up and that issues are properly investigated and resolved. “We want NHS workers … Read more

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

Today we have launched a joint petition with WhistleblowersUK calling on the Government to review the law: It’s time for the UK to return to its place, leading global standards on whistleblowing. Protect, along with WhistleblowersUK, and the public, call on this Government to deliver a whistleblowing law that offers real protection to whistleblowers, sets … 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

Following the CQC investigation into West Suffolk NHS Hospital, Protect Acting Chief Executive, Liz Gardiner, said: ‘Those who raised concerns and voiced their alarm about the toxic culture at West Suffolk need to be thanked for doing so. Their whistleblowing triggered a CQC inspection and the regulator has now downgraded an outstanding hospital to one … Read more