Whistleblowing policy

Whistleblowing law protects workers who raise concerns about wrongdoing from being dismissed or punished for it, with no cap on compensation and no qualifying period, and the employer's best protection is a policy that gives workers a route to raise concerns internally, a person to raise them with, an investigation that takes them seriously and feedback that keeps the worker from going to a regulator or the press. The policy has to explain what is protected, set the route, say what happens next and prohibit the detriment the law prohibits. I draft the policy for the employer as part of the handbook and core policies for a fixed fee of £995, delivered in five working days.

Who this is for

Employers in England and Wales of any size, including regulated businesses that must have a policy and businesses that want one before they need it.

What matters in a whistleblowing policy

What a protected disclosure is and who is protected

Under Part IVA of the Employment Rights Act 1996, inserted by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, a qualifying disclosure under section 43B of the Employment Rights Act 1996 is a disclosure of information that the worker reasonably believes is made in the public interest and tends to show a criminal offence, a breach of a legal obligation, a miscarriage of justice, a danger to health and safety, damage to the environment, sexual harassment (added by the Employment Rights Act 2025) or the concealment of any of them; it is protected if made to the employer, to a person responsible for the matter, to a prescribed person or, in limited cases, more widely; workers, agency workers, contractors in some cases and (for some purposes) applicants are protected, and the policy should explain this in terms staff recognise.

Why a policy helps the employer as well as the worker

A worker who makes a protected disclosure is protected from detriment under section 47B of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and from dismissal under section 103A, which is automatically unfair with no qualifying period and uncapped compensation, and a disclosure to a regulator or the press is protected where the worker reasonably believed internal disclosure would lead to detriment or a cover-up or had already been tried; an employer with a policy, an internal route that works and a record of investigating concerns can show that external disclosure was not reasonable and, more usefully, learns about problems before the regulator does.

The internal route and the person who receives disclosures

The policy should name the person or people to whom concerns can be raised (a senior manager, a director, a non-executive or an external service), with an alternative where the concern involves the named person, should say that concerns can be raised orally or in writing and anonymously (with the limits of anonymity explained), should distinguish a whistleblowing concern from a personal grievance (and say that a grievance raised through the whistleblowing route will be redirected without prejudice to the worker), and should encourage early internal reporting; the person who receives disclosures should be someone staff will use, which rules out the manager whose conduct is the usual subject.

Prescribed persons, regulators and going outside

The policy should explain that disclosures to a prescribed person (the regulator for the sector, the Health and Safety Executive, the Information Commissioner, HMRC, the Financial Conduct Authority and the others listed in the Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons) Order 2014) are protected where the worker reasonably believes the matter falls within that body's remit and that the information is substantially true, that wider disclosure (the press) is protected only in the circumstances section 43G of the Employment Rights Act 1996 sets, and that the policy does not prevent any of them; a policy that purports to require internal disclosure first is misstating the law and is itself a detriment.

Protection from detriment and the gagging clause that is void

The policy should state that no worker will be subjected to detriment for making a protected disclosure, that detriment includes informal treatment (exclusion, workload, the withholding of opportunities) as well as formal action, that colleagues who victimise a whistleblower face disciplinary action, that the employer is liable for colleagues' victimisation under section 47B as amended, and that any agreement (including a settlement agreement) is void under section 43J so far as it purports to prevent a protected disclosure; the policy should also say that a worker who makes a disclosure in bad faith may face action but that the disclosure's protection does not depend on motive.

Investigations, records and the feedback that keeps disclosures internal

The policy should set the process: acknowledgement, an initial assessment, an investigation proportionate to the concern by someone independent of it, interim measures, the involvement of regulators where the law requires it, a record kept of each disclosure and its outcome (with data protection safeguards under the UK GDPR), feedback to the worker on the outcome so far as confidentiality allows, and reporting to the board on the concerns raised; a worker who hears nothing concludes that nothing was done and takes the concern elsewhere, which the feedback is designed to prevent.

What it costs

Staff handbook and core policies, £995. Five working days.

Employment contract, £595. One template you can reuse for a grade of staff. Five working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the employment contracts and handbooks page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A bespoke contract drafted for how you employ people
• Restrictive covenants drafted at a scope a court will uphold
• Confidentiality and intellectual property provisions that put ownership where it belongs
• The statutory particulars, so the document does the job section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 requires it to do
• Flexibility clauses where you genuinely need them, drafted to survive challenge
• Core policies: disciplinary, grievance, sickness absence, equal opportunities, data protection and, increasingly, AI use
• One round of amendments

What is not included

• Acting for employees
• Employment tribunal representation
• Payroll, pensions auto-enrolment and tax
• Immigration and sponsor licence work
• Day to day HR handling, disciplinaries, grievances and redundancy processes

Questions I am often asked

Can we require staff to raise concerns internally before going to a regulator?

You cannot. Disclosures to prescribed persons are protected without internal disclosure first, and a policy requiring it misstates the law. The policy encourages internal reporting by making the route work, which is the lawful way to achieve the same end.

Is a complaint about an employee's own treatment whistleblowing?

Usually it is a grievance, unless it discloses wrongdoing in the public interest. The policy explains the difference and redirects grievances without penalising the worker for choosing the wrong route.

Can a settlement agreement stop a departing employee blowing the whistle?

They cannot. Any term preventing a protected disclosure is void by statute, and settlement agreements carve it out expressly. The policy says so.

Related guidance and services

• Employment contracts and handbooks, £995, the service this page describes
• Consultancy and contractor agreements, £595
• Anti-harassment policy
• Staff handbook for a business with fifty employees

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: October 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.