Whistleblowing developments

• in May 2013, whistleblowing charity Public Concern at Work (PCAW) released the results of a survey of 1,000 whistleblowers showing that around 60% of workers who raised concerns about their workplace got no response from their managers; one in five were disciplined or demoted after speaking up and 15% were sacked;

• PCAW followed this up in December 2013 with the results of a review by the Whistleblowing Commission, an expert panel set up to examine the effectiveness of current laws and how they can be improved. The report concluded that PIDA is “complex” and “not working as intended”. A series of recommendations include:

• a statutory Whistleblowing Code of Practice;

• simplifying and extending the scope of PIDA;

• extending PIDA to include, for example, volunteers, interns, student nurses and job applicants;

• simplifying the ban on gagging clauses used to stop workers speaking out; and

• protecting disclosures made in the course of obtaining advice from a union rep.

www.pcaw.org.uk