‘The Best Warning System: Whistleblowing during Covid-19’, a report by the whistleblowing charity Protect, has found that 20 per cent of employees who have gone to their bosses concerned over furlough fraud and breaches of Covid-19 safety rules have been sacked as a result. It also found that 41 per cent of employees with Covid-19 concerns were ignored by their employers – increasing from 31 per cent in 2019.

Between 23 March and 30 September 2020, Protect - which runs an Advice Line for whistleblowers and supports more than 3,000 whistleblowers each year - has been inundated with Covid-19 whistleblowing concerns.  It has examined 638 cases related to coronavirus, including 62 per cent of complaints about furlough fraud; 34 per cent lack of social distancing and personal protective equipment in the workplace and 4 per cent of other rights violations.

The report demonstrates the role whistleblowers can play in revealing where employers are fraudulently claiming public money.

Liz Gardiner - Protect Chief Executive - said:

“There is no excuse for employers to ignore whistleblowers, but during a global pandemic, it is a danger for us all when concerns are not acted on and the consequences could be a matter of life and death.”

She added:

“We all owe thanks to whistleblowers who do the right thing and speak out about wrongdoing in the workplace. But if employers continue to ignore their concerns – or worse – dismiss them for speaking up, we all need to be extremely concerned.”

Findings reported that managers were more likely to be dismissed for raising Covid-19 concerns - with 32 per cent of managers compared with 21 per cent of non-managers - losing their jobs. Furlough fraud was found to come mostly from very small organisations, with 76 per cent of callers describing their company size as between 1-49 employees.

Kate Palmer - Associate Director of HR advisory at Peninsula - stated that the report could be a prompt for the government to improve protections for whistleblowers.

She said:

“At the moment, though, the government has not released further guidance on how they wish to tackle this issue, if at all, with regards to the employers who ignore whistleblowers’ disclosures.”

She warned that employers who dismissed whistleblowers and were found guilty of unfair dismissal could face paying a significant amount in damages including a basic award of up to £16,140, as well as an uncapped compensatory award.  

The report recommends a legal standard on employers to have whistleblowing arrangements in place; a requirement to give whistleblowers feedback on the concerns raised and that a penalty regime where an organisation can be fined or sanctioned for breaching the whistleblowing standards should be introduced.  In addition, the institution of new legal standards on all regulators to ensure they deal effectively and promptly with whistleblowing concerns being raised to them and regulators doing much more to drive up standards of whistleblowing arrangements amongst entities they regulate. Legal aid and reform to whistleblowing law is also needed to ensure that whistleblowers who are treated badly, or dismissed, have an effective remedy.

Protect’s Liz Gardiner - added:

“We want lessons to be learned from our report which demonstrates real issues around fraud and public safety. Organisations have a duty of care to protect their staff. Whistleblowers are doing the right thing speaking up in a pandemic to keep themselves and others safe – employers need to keep their side of the deal and listen and act on the concerns they are hearing.”

Darren Jones MP - Chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee – said: 

“Whistleblowing is a vital means for workers to raise concerns and shine a light on wrongdoing. Putting in place effective whistleblowing arrangements should be a key part of good governance, helping to ensure that people are encouraged to speak out and that their concerns are listened to and acted upon. During the coronavirus crisis, workers came forward with concerns about their workplace, on issues such as protective equipment or working practices, and it’s important employers play their part in ensuring effective whistleblowing arrangements are in place.”