How to Protect Whistleblowers – a proposal

Most organisations and regulators pay lip service to whistleblower protection but their effect is useless. Whistleblowers are hopelessly protected in the UK and they ruin their careers and life by speaking up about wrongdoing. In my case, where I followed all the prescribed procedures and blew the whistle 13 years ago, the fraud I disclosed has still not been properly addressed nor anyone held to account because of the corruption in the FCA, the SRA, the police and the media.

My idea for the protection of whistleblowers is to have a central registry, similar to the Land Registry, with no connection to regulators or parliament. Every company employing others should pay an annual levy depending on their turnover. So a big bank would pay considerably more than a small family firm. The funds received would pay for the administration of the registry and compensation to whistleblowers where appropriate.

When an employee has concerns about wrongdoing at work s/he can register their concerns at the Registry before blowing the whistle, anonymously if preferred. This will create a time stamped record of the concern. Thereafter, if the employee wishes to take the matter further, and escalate through the prescribed channels, any person that discriminates against them for doing so would be committing a criminal offence. This would include employers, professional bodies and regulators.

If investigation of the wrongdoing results in a fine, imprisonment or regulatory change the whistleblower will be compensated accordingly from the Registry funds. The Registry will be staffed by legally trained, independent persons who will also be able to offer advice to the whistleblower.

This seems to me a far better solution than the various pseudo charities and APPGs  that have popped up purporting to support whistleblowers when they do no such thing and exist merely for the career advancement of their staff.