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 impact on an estimated 10 million workers.
She added, “Covid-19 shone a light on how vital whistleblowers are to us all – indeed in 2020 – many workers’ concerns have been matters of life and death. Others have rightly spoken up when employers have been committing fraud on the public purse by abusing the furlough scheme.”
Our Impact Report also highlights our projects encouraging employers to improve their speak-up arrangements, including the plight of whistleblowers in financial services – Silence in the City 2 and our pandemic report, The Best Warning System: Whistleblowing During Covid-19.
We also produced guidance for regulators dealing with whistleblowers and highlighted the gaps in whistleblowing arrangements in the charity and not-for-profit sector in our Time to Transform report.