Whistleblowing needs code of practice

The government should adopt a whistleblowing code of practice and strengthen the legal protection for whistleblowers.

A report from the Whistleblowing Commission, suggests a code would help whistleblowers come forward without fear of reprisal.

The commission said a code of practice should set out principles enabling workers to raise concerns about a danger, risk, malpractice or wrongdoing. It should be scalable in accordance to an organisation’s size, and set out requirements on how whistleblowing concerns are handled.

Recommendations in the report include strengthening the legal protections to whistelblowers outlined in the 1998 Public Interest Disclosure Act, including anti-gagging provisions and extending protection to doctors, student nurses and social workers.

The report comes in the wake of scandals that may have been prevented if whistleblowing rules had been stronger, including Libor rate rigging, construction worker blacklisting and poor standards of care at Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.

www.hrmagazine.co.uk/hro/news/1140783/review-recommends-government-set-whistleblowing-code-practice#sthash.KXrfajFF.dpuf