Whistleblowing has a narrow legal meaning. It is not the same as complaining about your own treatment, and it is not simply telling somebody about a problem. It is a disclosure in the public interest about a defined kind of wrongdoing — and where it qualifies, the law protects the person who made it.
What counts as whistleblowing
GOV.UK guidance on whistleblowing for employees explains that you are a whistleblower if you are a worker and you report certain types of wrongdoing, that this will usually be something you have seen at work, and that the wrongdoing you disclose must be in the public interest — meaning it must affect others, for example the general public.
The categories listed are: a criminal offence, for example fraud; someone's health and safety being in danger; risk or actual damage to the environment; a miscarriage of justice; the company breaking the law, for example not having the right insurance; and someone covering up wrongdoing.
The same guidance is explicit about what falls outside: personal grievances, such as bullying, harassment or discrimination, are not covered by whistleblowing law unless the particular case is in the public interest. Personal grievances should be raised through the employer's grievance procedure instead — covered in GOV.UK guidance on raising a grievance at work.
Who is protected
The protection covers workers, which is broader than employees. GOV.UK guidance on whistleblowing explains that as a whistleblower you are protected by law and should not be treated unfairly or lose your job because you blew the whistle.
Protection is not limited to permanent staff: it extends to workers including agency workers, and to trainees on work experience placements. GOV.UK's related guidance on employment status sets out what makes someone a worker.
Importantly, you do not have to be right. What matters is that you reasonably believe the information tends to show one of the categories of wrongdoing, and that disclosing it is in the public interest.
Who to tell
GOV.UK guidance on who to tell and what to expect explains that you should check your employer's whistleblowing policy where there is one, and that you can tell your employer even if there is no policy.
Where you do not want to report to your employer — because you think they are involved, will cover it up, or will treat you unfairly — you can report to a prescribed person or body. GOV.UK publishes the list of prescribed people and bodies, which names the regulator to approach for each type of concern, from HMRC to the Health and Safety Executive to the Financial Conduct Authority.
You can also tell a legal adviser, and any disclosure made to a legal adviser in the course of getting legal advice is protected.
A practical note: keep a plain record of what you reported, when, and to whom. Where a case later turns on whether treatment was because of the disclosure, dates do most of the work.
Confidentiality, and disclosing outside those routes
GOV.UK guidance on whistleblowing explains that you can ask for your identity to be kept confidential, though this cannot always be guaranteed, and that you can make a disclosure anonymously — but that an anonymous report is harder to investigate and harder to protect.
Going to the media or to another third party outside those routes risks losing protection, so it is worth taking free advice before doing so. Protect, an independent charity, provides a free confidential advice line on whistleblowing, and Citizens Advice, a registered charity, publishes free guidance on whistleblowing at work.
If you are treated badly afterwards
GOV.UK guidance on what to do if you are treated unfairly after whistleblowing explains that you may be able to make a claim to an employment tribunal if you are treated unfairly because you blew the whistle, and that this includes dismissal.
Dismissal for whistleblowing sits in a special category. GOV.UK guidance on unfair and constructive dismissal lists whistleblowing among the reasons that make a dismissal automatically unfair, and — significantly — a claim of this kind does not require two years' service. Similarly, GOV.UK guidance on being selected for redundancy lists whistleblowing among the unfair grounds for redundancy selection.
The usual time limits apply. GOV.UK guidance on making a claim to an employment tribunal explains that you usually have three months from the problem happening or your employment ending, that you must notify Acas first, and that the time limit is paused while Acas tries to help. Acas publishes free guidance on whistleblowing.
Before you report: three things worth doing
Check the category. Match the concern to one of the six types of wrongdoing, and to the public interest test, in your own words.
Choose the route deliberately. Internal first is usually simplest; a prescribed regulator is the right first step where the employer is implicated.
Report the wrongdoing, not the personalities. A factual account of what happened, dated, is both more protected and more likely to be acted on.
Different rules in Northern Ireland
Whistleblowing protection in Northern Ireland is provided under its own legislation, with claims going to the Industrial Tribunals. nidirect publishes guidance on whistleblowing for workers there.
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