The government has finally launched its long-awaited anti-corruption strategy – more than two years in the making. Setting out the UK’s approach to tackling corruption it explicitly acknowledges the serious threat it poses to our national security and political system. Protect attended the launch as a key stakeholder, alongside other organisations working at the forefront of anti-corruption efforts.
Protect reacts to the Government’s released Anti-Corruption Strategy and the decision to defer action on whistleblowing incentives (pending the Fisher KC review into fraud, which is due at the end of the year) and to consider whistleblowing protection in 2027.
We support changes that contribute to the fight against tax fraud – anything that improves the ability of regulators to take action against wrongdoing is in the public interest. However, rewards are no substitute for a comprehensive whistleblowing framework.
On the afternoon on Monday 15th September the government voted to overturn an amendment in the Employment Rights Bill to strengthen protections for whistleblowers. The amendment – which had been voted in by peers in the House of Lords – would have required the government to broaden unfair dismissal grounds and, for the first time, require large employers to take reasonable steps to investigate whistleblowing concerns.
A Westminster Hall debate on the Contributions of Whistleblowers, held to mark World Whistleblowers Day, brought together key parliamentarians with strong opinions and perspectives on how the law and whistleblowing needs to be modernised. From exposing the lack of legal protections for self-employed people to pushing for a legal duty on employers to investigate matters that are raised by whistleblowers, the session included strong arguments that the whistleblowing legal framework is not working well enough, with the government minister Justin Madders, conceding the case for change.
The 31st May 2025 marks sixty years of Employment Tribunals – colloquially known in the legal world as ETs. The ET is the final destination for whistleblowing cases – often a tortuous process that pits an individual whistleblower against the might of their employer’s legal team. Recent reports have shown that the UK employment tribunal backlog has hit record levels. Not good news for whistleblowers, as our latest blog explores…
May has seen the the Employment Rights Bill reach Committee Stage in the House of Lords, giving all members of the Lords an opportunity to speak and debate amendments. We’ve worked with a wide range of peers from across all parties to amass support for our proposals to modernise whistleblowing protection.
In a disappointing judgment, the Court of Appeal has said that job applicants are not protected if they blow the whistle, and in doing so has thrown the ball firmly back into Parliament’s court to decide who is, and who is not, a whistleblower. More positively, the Court restated the value of whistleblowing and noted the purpose of the law is “to protect the public interest by ensuring that information about wrongdoing, or threats to health and safety or the environment, could be disclosed”
The government’s landmark Employment Rights Bill has now bounced from the Commons to the Lords as it continues its progress through Parliament. After a highly scrutinised passage through the Commons that led to more than 200 pages of amendments tabled at the Report Stage and Third Reading the Bill will be debated in the Lords for the first time on Thursday 27 March. This Bill provides a critical opportunity to improve whistleblowing protections for everyone in the workplace and revamp the way employers address and manage whistleblowing.
Protect welcomes the publication of the new report from the Committee on Public Standards in Public Life “Recognising and responding to early warning signs in public sector bodies” and calls for the introduction of a statutory duty on employers to investigate whistleblower concerns to give workers the confidence they will be listened to when they speak up.
The Advice Line will be closed for the Christmas holidays from 1pm on 24 December until 9.30am on 5 January. Please call when our lines reopen, or leave a webform and one of our advisers will get back to you in the New Year. Wishing you a lovely festive break and a happy new year!
