Whistle Blowing Employees UK Law – Blowing The Whistle on Workplace Wrongdoing:

Do you need a whistle blowing example if you work in the UK?

Why Blow The Whistle?

How to blow the whistle at work:

This page last updated 7.7.26.

The reason why you should blow the whistle is because blowing thew whistle at work will offer you legal recourse in the event you are dismissed or subjected to a ‘detriment‘.

Read this webpage first!

Very often, if a client comes to us and tells us that their face no longer fits at work, and that they believe that their employer is acting with an ulterior motive to dismiss them, then we will write them a letter to blow the whistle. This makes it all the much harder for the employer to get rid of an employee it no longer wants or for dismissing the employee for “some other substantial reason’ – SOSR.  In accordance with s.103A ERA 1996, if the reason (or principal reason) for the dismissal is because the employee blew the whistle, then the employee can submit claims to the Employment Tribunal. Therefore, if a client informs us that they are about to be placed on a disciplinary or subjected to a performance improvement plan, it’s best to strike first and blow the whistle. This way, you can later argue that the disciplinary or performance improvment plan was done ‘on the grounds that’ you blew the whistle. This muddies the water for the employer, not least as the disciplinary or performance improvement plan could be seen as ‘detrimental treatment’ for having blown the whistle, which is a contravention of s.47B ERA 1996.

Do you need whistleblowing examples or an example letter to blow the whistle to your employer?

My wife Amy & I have created a free webpage, which includes whistle blowing examples UK for each of the whistle blowing categories –

  1. A criminal offence has been, is being, or is likely to be committed;
  2. A failure to comply with a legal obligation has happened, is happening, or is likely to happen;
  3. A miscarriage of justice has been committed, is being committed, or is likely to be committed;
  4. The endangerment of health and safety has happened, is happening, or is likely to happen;
  5. Damage to the environment has happened, is happening, or is likely to happen;
  6. That the employer is likely to conceal one of the above.

The free whistleblowing webpage provides six examples of what to say when blowing the whistle to your employer regarding (1) to (6) above.

The free whistleblowing webpage also outlines specific wording to use when blowing the whistle to your employer.

The free whistleblowing webpage provides little wiggle room for your employer to wiggle off the hook germane to you blowing the whistle.

The free whistleblowing webpage includes case law.

What is whistle blowing?  You can blow the whistle to your employer on any of the matters as outlined in 1-6 above. When you blow the whistle you do not need to have ‘evidence’ to support what you say in your whistleblowing letter, but you must reasonably believe that what you are blowing the whistle on is substantially true. You must also provide information. The information you disclose to your employer must have a wider public interest element. All this is covered in our free whistleblowing webpage.

Examples of whistleblowing in the workplace? Our free whistleblowing webpage provides six examples of how you can blow the whistle to your employer and what you must write when blowing the whistle to your employer. Our whistleblowing webpage covers UK Law under the auspices of The PIDA 1998 & The Employment Rights Act 1996.

What type of law protects you when whistle blowing? It is unlawful for your employer or a person employed by your employer to victimise you done on the grounds that you blew the whistle. However, unless you blow the whistle in accordance with the law, you will not have protection. This is why my wife Amy & I have created a free whistleblowing template to outline what you must write within your whistle blowing letter to your employer.

Dismissal:

Where an employee invokes the protection of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 or Employment Rights Act 1996 it is unlawful for the employer to subject that employee to a “detriment” or “detrimental treatment” under any Parliamentary Act.

Proving “detrimental treatment” is a relatively low hurdle. In the employment context, a “detriment” is where the employee has simply been “disadvantaged” for being a whistle-blower.

Section 103A of the Employment Rights Act 1996 makes it automatically unfair to dismiss an employee for making protected disclosure/s (blowing the whistle).

The employee does not need two years service to blow the whistle. Protection for being a whistle-blower is from day one of employment.

Notwithstanding, there is no time limit in relation to the employer subjecting an employee to a “detriment” for whistle blowing. For the avoidance of doubt, the detriment or detrimental treatment can be inflicted years later – Miklaszewicz v Stolt Offshore Ltd [2002] IRLR 344

This means that even after you have left your employer, the employer must not subject you to a detriment i.e. giving you a bad reference because you were a whistle-blower.

If you are dismissed for blowing the whistle (or one or more of the reasons why your employer dismissed you) the average Tribunal award for whistle-blowing compensation is circa £113,000.00

The whistleblowing webpage outlines how to take adequate measures to [protect yourself] when blowing the whistle i.e. outlining the specific wording to use when blowing the whistle to your employer.

Our free whistleblowing webpage also provides a list of persons ‘prescribed persons list’ whom you can blow the whistle in the event you want to blow the whistle to someone other than your employer.

Remember, you don’t have to be alone in going through your employment dispute with your employer. We took our own employers to the Employment Tribunal and know firsthand what you are going through.

If you feel you need assistance writing your grievance letter, Amy & I can write your grievance letter for you. We only charge £35 for an initial telephone consultation up to one hour. During the initial consultation, we can talk through your employment situation, provide guidance, and support you moving forward if you want our help. Go on, don’t hesitate, pick up the phone and call us 07775943414 (9-5 UK) or email us at: myrightsuk@protonmail.com

Over the past 15 years Amy & I have helped thousands of clients. Read our testimonials page.

Amy & I can write you a custom grievance letter for any of the following employment issues:

Reach out to us on 07775943414 (9-5 UK) or email us – myrightsuk@protonmail.com

We work 7 days a week because we know your employment problems don’t just end on a Friday afternoon!