New laws failing to protect City whistle-blowers, research reveals
SEVEN in 10 employees who blow the whistle on workplace harassment or illegal behaviour in the City are victimised, sacked or forced to quit, despite laws being passed to protect them, research has found.
More than 350 whistle-blowers interviewed over two years said most of their bosses had tried to cover up the bullying or misbehaviour.
The whistle-blowers described how even when they complained about being victimised for speaking out, more than three quarters of the companies ignored or denied it.
Victims said they had been forced to sign non-disclosure agreements or threatened with false misconduct charges if they made their disclosures public.
The research, revealed exclusively by The Daily Telegraph, is titled Silence in the City, and was carried out by Protect, the whistle-blowing charity.
Protect wanted to discover whether new rules introduced in 2016, which allow employees to disclose unlawful or unethical behaviour and make victimisation illegal, had protected whistle-blowers.
However, 69 per cent of the 350 whistle-blowers – described as a “scandalously high” number – had been victimised, bullied, dismissed or forced to resign by employers after raising their complaints, according to the research.
The proportion victimised or disciplined had risen since 2016 from 22 per cent to 31 per cent. Of those who were victimised, 58 per cent said their employer ignored it and 24 per cent of their bosses denied it occurred.
The biggest source of complaint, registered by 19 per cent, related to regulatory breaches such as mis-selling, followed by fraud or criminal activity, reported by 11 per cent.
“Many whistle-blowers were reporting on systemic and organisation-wide problems – which any good employer ignores at their peril,” said Liz Gardiner, the chief executive of Protect.
“It is time to review how the whistleblowing law works and place a positive duty on employers to prevent victimisation, rather than leave it to the individual who has suffered to navigate the tribunal system.”
One positive finding was an increase from 78 per cent to 93 per cent in the proportion of whistle-blowers who reported their concerns internally, rather than feeling they had to seek help outside their company.
But a third (33 per cent) of concerns were ignored, a small increase from 30 per cent four years ago, and evidence, according to Protect, that “lessons have not been learned in the sector about responding to whistle-blowing concerns and providing feedback.”