Legislation
The Office of the Whistleblower Bill
Date
Proposed December 2024
Summary
The Office of the Whistleblower Bill was put forward to parliament in December 2024. The Bill proposes to establish an independent Office of the Whistleblower to protect whistleblowers.
It will set, monitor and enforce standards for the management of whistleblowing cases, provide disclosure and advice services, direct whistleblowing investigations, and order redress of detriment suffered by whistleblowers.
By having this office in place, the Bill also proposes that it will be a designated body to which people can report when they have made a disclosure. The Bill will need to go through the full parliamentary process before becoming law.
The Court of Appeal is considering whether whistleblowing protections should be extended to apply to external job applicants.
The legal challenge has been raised by the whistleblowing charity Protect, which has filed a third-party intervention at the Court of Appeal after it was given permission to intervene in the case.
The current scope of whistleblowing law doesn’t cover external job applicants other than those applying to the NHS, who are protected by the Employment Rights Act 1996 if they make a protected disclosure.
Protect highlights that job applicants who blow the whistle risk being blacklisted and can be effectively excluded from working in their chosen field.
Flexible working guide
The pandemic has undoubtedly altered the way many employers and employees think and feel about the traditional 9 to 5 in the office. Many companies have recently increased their flexible working offerings.…