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Protect partner with Slater and Gordon for study into financial service whistleblowers

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 Slater and Gordon to anonymously analyse 438 whistleblowing cases from financial service sector employees who called Protect’s advice line between 2017-19”.

The research, Silence in the City 2, updates the previous report, Silence in the City published with Slater and Gordon in 2013, which looked into records of over 300 workers from the financial services sector who called our Advice Line between 2007 -2012. A key finding of this study found workers’ lack of trust in their superiors may be well-founded: with 42% reported being dismissed after raising a concern once. This compared to 24% from across all industries.

Protect Head of Policy, Andrew Pepper-Parsons said, “With new FCA rules introduced in September 2016, we  want to see whether the efforts from the regulators has had a positive effect for whistleblowers. Do they trust internal mechanisms more?  Are their concerns now taken more seriously?  Has there been a robust response from firms around reports of victimisation?

He added, “Silence in the City 2 will allow us to compare – before and after – the implementation of FCA’s rules.  While employers tell us the culture has changed, we want to get the viewpoint from the whistleblowers in the sector.”

The landscape has changed considerably since 2012, with the regulators for the financial services, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA), issuing whistleblowing rules for banks and, more recently to insurance companies on creating and then running whistleblowing arrangements.  These measures include the following aspects:

  • Written whistleblowing procedures, with an ability for staff to report directly to the FCA or PRA
  • Emended approach to preventing victimisation in the whistleblowing arrangements
  • The appointment of a whistleblowing champion

In 2018 the FCA carried out research looking at the implementation of their rules, where they found many firms had embedded training and whistleblowing policies but many struggled to demonstrate that in practice they were taking proactive action.

Clive Howard, senior principal employment lawyer at Slater and Gordon, who will be overseeing the project, said: “The original ‘Silence in the City’ report made for very bleak reading, with little support for the majority of whistleblowers in financial services who were at best ignored and at worst, victimised, disciplined or dismissed.

“There has been much positive change in the last seven years, but we know from our clients that problems do still exist. This updated report will be an important insight into what has changed for the better, what still needs to be done and hopefully a valuable learning tool to ensure those who are brave enough to raise concerns in such a sensitive and important sector as financial services are better protected in the future”.

Silence in the City 2 will be published in March.