News

Webinar: 29 June 5-6pm Non-Executive Directors, the self-employed, volunteers and job applicants are not protected by whistleblower protection – is it time to change? Join UK whistleblowing charity Protect in this latest webinar to debate why it is vital these groups who are key players in today’s workforce are protected by whistleblowing legislation. Protect will … Read more

Paul Scully, Minister for BEIS, (Business, Energy, Industrial Strategy) announced in Parliament (June 8) the creation of a single enforcement body to tackle exploitation of workers and abuse of labour rights. The proposed regulator will have responsibility for enforcing rights such as minimum wage, holiday and sick pay, and modern slavery.    Regulators play a ... Read more

A whistleblowing policy drafted for the judicial system has come under criticism for being drawn up in secret, and which will gag judges – not encourage them to speak up over wrongdoing. District Judge Claire Gilham, who won her Supreme Court Case in 2019 to give whistleblowing protection rights for the judiciary, (Protect intervened in … Read more

British whistleblower Jonathan Taylor has lifted the lid once again on corruption involving revenues emanating from the major British oil company BP, as reported in today’s Daily Telegraph. Extradition Fight Jonathan, a UK citizen, is currently fighting extradition to Monaco.  On arrival in Croatia on a family holiday in July 2020, he was initially detained … Read more

Protect has joined 40 legal experts, campaigners, academics and NGOs in  signing an open letter calling for the Croatian Justice Minister, Mr. Ivan Malenica, to halt the extradition of British whistleblower Jonathan Taylor. Jonathan exposed a series of multi-million pound bribes in the oil industry while working for one of Monaco’s major employers – oil … Read more

Protect welcomes  two new Trustees to its Board. Ravinder Passi is a UK qualified solicitor with over 21 years' experience, who has first-hand experience of what it means to be a whistle-blower and fully understands the legal, professional, financial and personal implications of doing the right thing. Whilst working in Japan for over eight years, ... Read more

Creating a more effective whistleblowing or Speak Up culture is a way for the BBC to both restore its reputation and ensure that such a scandal does not happen again. There needs to be recognition from the top of the organisation that whistleblowers should be encouraged to raise concerns, that they will be protected if they do, and that their concerns will be listened to ... Read more

Earlier today the Private Members’ Ballot took place giving  20 MPs the chance to introduce a proposed piece of law, or ‘bill’. This is a fantastic and rare opportunity for backbench MPs to introduce meaningful law that will make a real difference for people. Protect wants its whistleblowing bill (see here) to became law and ... Read more

Protect continues its campaign to free whistleblower Jonathan Taylor who is being held in Croatia and facing extradition to Monaco. Protect along with other human and civil rights campaigners have signed an open letter to Croatia’s Minister of Justice Mr. Ivan Malenica urging him to ‘refuse Monaco’s abusive request to extradite Mr. Taylor to Monaco … Read more

Protect is busy briefing MPs on why UK whistleblowing legislation needs fixing, following the Queen’s Speech, which marks the start of a new Parliamentary session. A new Parliamentary session means there will be a Private Members’ Ballot which this year takes place on May 20. The ballot is an opportunity for backbench MPs to introduce … Read more

Protect is running a new Masterclass: Handling sexual harassment & whistleblowing concerns in the workplace aimed at senior individuals including HR, Compliance, Legal and Audit roles who are responsible for internal arrangements and whistleblowing culture. The session will include an overview of sexual harassment in the workplace and rights and duties in equality law, as ... Read more

This article is a summary of the speech delivered at 'Let's Fix Whistleblowing' launch event on 29th April 2021. To see highlights from the launch click here Today we are surrounded by the most tragic and catastrophic example of the failure to listen to a whistleblower, Dr Li Wenliang, when he said he was concerned ... Read more

Protect’s campaign launched Let’s Fix UK Whistleblowing Law’ with a panel debate chaired by Barrister Mukhtair Singh, and NHS whistleblower Dr Chris Day, Dame Margaret Hodge MP, Kevin Hollinrake MP, and attended by more than 100 delegates. Let’s Fix UK Whistleblowing Law’, calls on the Government to urgently amend whistleblowing legislation, the Public Interest Disclosure ... Read more

Protect will be renewing its campaign to update the Public Interest Disclosure Act, kicking off its ‘Let's Fix UK Whistleblowing Law’ campaign with an MP debate discussing the importance of whistleblowing from Wuhan to Westminster. Protect Chief Executive, Liz Gardiner, said “We need to fix the UK whistleblowing law which is 23 years-old, and out ... Read more

Protect along with delegates from the EU Commission, national authorities and civil society organisations attended the Whistleblowing International Network (WIN) and Transparency International EU hosted webinar on the EU Whistleblowing Directive. In 2019, the European Union adopted a ground-breaking Directive to ensure comprehensive and coherent protection of whistleblowers across Europe. The 27 EU Member States implementing the ... Read more

The National Guardian’s Office leads, trains and supports a network of Freedom to Speak Up Guardians providing learning and striving for cultural change on speaking up matters in NHS Trusts in England. The role of Freedom to Speak Up Guardians (FTSUGS) and the National Guardian, Dr Henrietta Hughes, were established in 2016 following serious failures ... Read more

Protect has welcomed the decision by professional services firm EY to drop its appeal in the case brought against the firm by whistleblower and former EY partner, Amjad Rihan. The case concerned allegations that EY had covered up the adverse findings of a sustainability audit into the Dubai Gold trade, including evidence of money laundering and ... Read more

Protect will be taking part in the national day of refection and one minute’s silence on March 23 at midday to reflect on the lives lost in the pandemic one year on – and to also thank the many whistleblowers who spoke out on Covid-19 concerns. Chief Executive Liz Gardiner said, “We will join the ... Read more

The long-awaited Sheldon review into child sexual abuse in football makes disturbing reading.  While the abuse is historic, the report is clear that lessons can still be learned.  There are some strong recommendations about safeguarding training from Board level to the young people and their parents, about establishing a child-first culture and about developing greater ... Read more

One rule for one, and one for another is fitting when comparing Parliamentary privilege between Westminster and Holroyd, for as it stands, Scottish MPs are very much unprivileged. This week in Parliament, MP David Davis spoke about the Holyrood inquiry investigating how the Scottish Government handled sexual harassment complaints against former First Minister Alex Salmon.  ... Read more

A new interactive whistleblowing investigation course, looking at best practice handling and how to avoid the common pitfalls, is now available to senior managers responsible for internal arrangements and whistleblowing culture. Protect’s Development Director Jon Cunningham, said, “How an organisation responds to a whistleblower can be critical to ensuring staff trust and confidence in the … Read more

The Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced in his Budget, the creation of a new Covid-19 taskforce – the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce – to investigate and sanction fraudulent abuses of Covid-19 relief schemes. Whilst Protect welcomes this response to tackle fraud against taxpayers, we would also like to call on the government to follow whistleblowing best practice, particularly by ensuring whistleblowers who speak out about furlough fraud, do not get penalised.   At the ... Read more

A report by the International Bar Association and the Government Accountability Project, examines the successes and shortcomings of whistleblower laws in 38 countries. The report, Are Whistleblowing Laws Working? A Global Study of Whistleblower Protection Litigation,which began in 2018, examines the strength of national laws on paper, compared with consensus international best practice. It found although almost a ... Read more

After the long-awaited appeal, Protect welcomes the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Uber BV v Aslam as a striking victory for Uber drivers in the UK - and potentially workers within the wider gig economy. The Court unanimously dismissed Uber’s appeal and upheld the first instance decision that Uber drivers are not independent contractors, but are indeed ... Read more

We welcome Elena Cornaro who joins us as a Legal Adviser after two years working at charity Working Families. Elena has a master’s in Human Rights Law with Distinction from SOAS and an undergraduate degree from Cambridge. She said, “For me, the importance of protecting whistleblowers is two-fold – it’s extremely important to provide safeguards … Read more

Our 2020 Impact Report, published today, shows our Advice Line team have supported 3,845 whistleblowers in 2020 - compared to 3,188. Overall, this is a 20% increase in cases. Protect Chief Executive Liz Gardiner said, "The advice we give to individuals has the potential to stop wrongdoing and harm in their workplaces – with an ... Read more

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has once again been asked to intervene in the case of whistleblower Jonathan Taylor – currently being held against his will in Croatia where he has been since July last year. Mr Taylor blew the whistle on corporate corruption and bribery in the oil and gas industry worth over $275million. He ... Read more

In an open letter, whistleblower Jonathan Taylor asks why authorities in Monaco and Croatia continue to detain him. " I am a whistleblower. When working at oil platform company SBM Offshore in Monaco, I blew the whistle on a $275 million international network of bribes to secure oil contracts around the world.  This was back in ... Read more

The recent report, Progress on tackling the sexual exploitation and abuse of aid beneficiaries, by the International Development Committee, has found abuse of beneficiaries to be rife with the aid sector and the last safe haven for perpetrators. The report also found that when victims or whistle-blowers try to report abuse, little meaningful action follows, ... Read more

We, the undersigned Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners, whistleblowing, human rights, transparency and journalist organisations are alarmed by the ongoing extradition proceedings against Jonathan Taylor in Croatia.  On 4 January 2020 the Dubrovnik County Court again ruled to extradite Jonathan to Monaco.  In October 2020, the Croatian Supreme Court had partially sustained his appeal ... Read more

Protect backs proposals by spending watchdog, the Public Accounts Committee for HMRC to publish the names of firms claiming furlough by the end of January, as a way to help stop fraud and abuse of the scheme. The scheme has paid the wages of more than 9m workers at a cost of £46 billion – … Read more

Protect’s Advice Line will close early at midday on 24 December until 4 January 2021. Anyone in need of urgent advice during this period can still email us at whistle@protect-advice.org.uk, and a member of the Advice Team will aim to respond as soon as possible. For all other queries, the Advice Team will be in … Read more

A Law Commission report to ensure public officials are properly held to account for misconduct in their roles, has been published. The consultation examined the common law offence of Misconduct in Public Office, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, but has never been put on the statute book by Parliament. The current law … Read more

Protect welcomes Sybille Raphael as its new Legal Director who will supervise our increasingly busy Advice Line  - which has seen a 37% rise in calls this year - and co-ordinate our legal case work and policy work. Sybille, an experienced solicitor and employment law specialist, leaves her previous role as Head of Legal Advice ... Read more

Pressure on the UK Government to intervene in the case of whistleblower Jonathan Taylor - being held against his will in Croatia - continues. The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners, (of which Protect is a part of) made up of whistleblowing, human rights and transparency organisations, and international jurists has written the following letter ... Read more

Important questions have been asked by MPs this week in the House of Commons and Peers in the House of Lords regarding whistleblower Jonathan Taylor, who is being held against his will in Croatia. Caroline Nokes – Jonathan’s local MP - asked the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs ‘what steps the ... Read more

The legal team for whistleblower Jonathan Taylor detained in Croatia and facing extradition to Monaco - on charges which have already been thrown out by the Monaco Correctional Court - is calling on the UK Government to intervene.  This week the UK has again stated that it is unable to interfere in the Croatian and ... Read more

Research by Protect has found 41% employees with Covid-19 concerns were ignored by their employers and 20% of whistleblowers were dismissed for raising concerns.  As the furlough leave scheme draws to an end, Protect’s report, The best warning system: Whistleblowing during Covid-19 demonstrates the role whistleblowers can play in revealing where employers are fraudulently claiming ... Read more

Protect, as the UK’s whistleblowing charity, supports whistleblowers from all sectors who call our Advice Line for support. Many are health and care sector workers. We also work with organisations to help employers get whistleblowing at work right. Whistleblowers are doing their bit to speak up, but we’d like to see far more employers ‘wise ... Read more

The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners, (of which Protect is a part of) made up of whistleblowing, human rights and transparency organisations, and international jurists welcome the decision of the Supreme Court of Croatia to revoke the first-instance court decision, which allowed for the extradition of whistleblower, Jonathan Taylor to Monaco. While the case ... Read more