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  • Whistleblowing legislation

Whistleblowing legislation

In the wake of high-profile scandals such as the catastrophic failings of the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust this research contributes to the debate on the role of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA), now fifteen years in force, in promoting increased transparency in the workplace and the implications of the amendments effected by the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (ERRA) for whistleblowing protection. In drawing on quantitative and qualitative data the research undertaken to date highlights the frequent disparity between an organisation’s party line and the cultural reality of the workplace.

Going forward the research will evaluate the implications of judicial decisions following the implementation of the ERRA such as the decision of Chesterton Global v Nurmohamed in relation to the new public interest requirement and will continue to monitor further developments in law, policy and the workplace.

Project objectives

The project objectives are to:

  • examine the legal protection for whistleblowers prior to the introduction of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA)
  • evaluate the development of the legislative provisions through judicial decisions
  • analyse the implications of the amendments to whistleblowing protection effected by the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (ERRA), namely the public interest and good faith requirements, protection from detriment by a co-worker and extension of the ‘worker’ category
  • explore the difficulties inherent in evaluating the success of legislation which essentially aims to change attitudes in the workplace
  • utilise quantitative and qualitative data regarding the workplace experience of whistleblowing and attitudes to whistleblowers.
My overall assessment is that a series of pragmatic solutions need to be devised to maximise the chance that genuine whistleblowers will use confidential avenues in which they may have faith...

Lord Justice Leveson

Project findings and impact

Findings revealed the disparity between the party line and what actually happens in the workplace. The research explores the difficulties inherent in evaluating the success of legislation which essentially aims to change attitudes in the workplace.

Research suggests that PIDA has promoted greater transparency in the workplace in providing statutory protection for whistleblowers which prior to this was inadequate. The PIDA remains an essential tool in moving towards responsible governance in both private and public sector organisations and the amendments effected by the ERRA 2013 should help to ensure that the legislation remains fit for purpose. However, the PIDA’s achievements in effecting a tangible, sustainable cultural shift towards transparency in the UK workplace appear incremental at best. The research demonstrates the need for a transparent workplace culture with whistleblowing policies only being effective in conjunction with ongoing training and a belief by workers that raising concerns will be viewed positively by their organisation.

The impact of the changes to protection for whistleblowers introduced by the ERRA 2013 and whether those changes are in practice an improvement to the PIDA will need to be the subject of further research once a body of case law has been established.

Perhaps the more significant change will prove to be section 19 of the ERRA which gives the whistleblower an additional right of not being subjected to detriment by a colleague, as well as from the employer; a welcome step. Whether this results in a positive cultural shift where whistleblowing will be seen by peers as a positive contribution to the governance of the organisation will need to be assessed in time and may depend on whether workers receive meaningful rather than tick-box training. This topic necessitates ongoing research from a socio-political and economic perspective and that the legislative protection be subject to ongoing review to ensure its effectiveness.

Research team

Jeanette Ashton

Output

Ashton, J (2015) When is whistleblowing in the public interest? Chesterton Global Ltd. & Another v Nurmohamed leaves this question open, Industrial Law Journal 44 (3) 450-459.

Ashton, J (2015) 15 years of whistleblowing protection under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998: Are we still shooting the messenger? Industrial Law Journal 44 (1) 29-52.

Paper accepted for Society of Legal Scholars conference York 2015

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