© PCaW Making whistleblowing work Guy Dehn Director, PCaW, UK IPRCCBPF, Brussels

© PCaW www.pcaw.co.uk

Making whistleblowing work

Guy Dehn

Director, PCaW, UK

IPRCCBPF, Brussels


Why whistleblowing matters


The human dilemma


Whistleblowing:

some of the

key issues

Public Concern at Work


Who do you want to blow the whistle? When?

What’s the main driver - regulation or good business?

How can you separate public concerns from private complaints?

What safeguards against abuse?

How do you judge success?

Starters


Do you want your people to raise a concern

openly,

confidentially (so, if requested, the person’s identity is not freely disclosed), or

anonymously (the person does not identify himself)?

It’s your call…


Do you want people to raise a concern…

with the alleged wrongdoer?

with their manager?

with senior management?

with the regulatory authorities?

Whom to tell?


Whistleblowing &

Data Protection

Whistleblowing

http://www.pcaw.co.uk/policy_pub/data_protection.html


How the UK

approach meets

US & EU rules and

helps sound business

The UK approach


signals a change in the culture,

is not prescriptive, and

provides strong civil sanctions against reprisal.

The UK approach

UK’s Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA), praised by Lord Nolan for ‘so skilfully achieving the essential but delicate balance between the public interest and the interest of employers’


This approach

promotes & protects public interest whistleblowing,

focuses on wrongdoing that threatens the public interest,

encourages open rather than anonymous whistleblowing, and

has a stepped disclosure regime that emphasises internal accountability, strengthens regulatory oversight and recognises public accountability

The UK approach


The stepped disclosure regime

Public disclosureprotected

The actualdisclosure is reasonable

Regulatory disclosure protected

Valid cause to go wider

Internaldisclosureprotected

Substance to the concern

Genuinesuspicion

Internal disclosure

Regulatorydisclosure

Publicdisclosure


As to purpose and effect, the UK approach

reassures workers there is a safe alternative to silence,

sees the whistleblower as a witness not a complainant,

encourages all half decent organisations to solicit and address concerns,

helps target regulatory activity better,

promotes the public interest, and

seems to work in practice.

Practical benefits


Effective

whistleblowing

arrangements

Policy & Practice


The purpose

The essence of whistleblowing arrangements are that staff should be able to

a) by-pass the direct management line, because that may well be the area about which their concerns arise, and

b) go outside the organisation if they feel the overall management is engaged in an improper course.


Key issues

leadership

policy is written to give assurance to the ‘silent majority’

default is that staff should raise concerns openly

distinguish whistleblowing concerns from grievances & bullying

provide internal and external disclosure options

promotion


Whistleblowing Best Practice:

Whistleblowing

www.pcaw.co.uk/services/Best_Practice.htm


Whistleblowing - a. Bringing an activity to a sharp conclusion as if by the blast of a whistle (OED) b. Raising concerns about misconduct within an organisation or within an independent structure associated with it (Nolan Committee) c. Giving information (usually to the authorities) about illegal or underhand practices (Chambers) d. Exposing to the press a malpractice or cover-up in a business or government office (US, Brewers) e. Providing a safe alternative to silence (Public Concern at Work) f. (origins) Police constable summoning public help to apprehend a criminal; signal to stop work in the industrial age; referee stopping play after a foul in football.

Whistleblowing

Documents

© PCaW Making whistleblowing work Guy Dehn Director, PCaW, UK IPRCCBPF, Brussels