Whistleblowing laws 'undermined'

THE Government does not do enough to encourage whistleblowers, a leading charity that helps employees to raise the alarm over business misconduct said.

The row erupted as Public Concern at Work revealed that about 30% of all cases reported to its helpline related to possible financial malpractice.

It explained that legal changes made two years ago prevented full public disclosure of whistleblowing cases where companies reach an out-of-court settlement with workers who reported wrongdoings.

'The rules mean that key details are now kept secret. With two in three whistleblowing cases settling before they reach a decision, these rules undermine the whistleblowing laws,' it said.

Whistleblowers have helped to uncover some of the biggest corporate scandals, and abuse in the healthcare industry. These include the disclosure by Sherron Watkins of massive accounting fraud at US energy giant Enron.

Five years ago British Biotech was at the centre of a whistleblowing case involving Andrew Millar, its head of clinical trials, who publicly questioned the efficacy of its cancer drug, marimastat.

Guy Dehn, director of Public Concern at Work, said the gagging rules should be abolished. 'They thwart the public interest and the public can't find out what the problem was that led to someone being dismissed.'

From next month whistleblowers will receive further protection from new corporate governance codes applying to publicly listed companies. These will require quoted businesses to install procedures so that company staff can complain about possible wrongdoing in confidence.

According to a new survey by the charity, people are twice as likely to raise the alarm now than five years ago. It says its helpline has handled more than 3,500 calls from concerned workers and it had helped to blow the whistle on hundreds of cases of serious wrongdoing.

The survey shows that 60% of concerns raised by the public related to organisations with fewer than 250 employees. As well as the 30% relating to financial malpractice, 29% related to safety issues, 27% concerned trading, consumer and environmental problems and 14% were about abuse in care.

Some 45% of all complaints involved the private sector, 42% the public sector and 13% the voluntary sector.

'A decade ago, when whistleblowers were branded misfits and traitors, people never found out about the national helpline in the workplace. Now over a third of callers are coming straight to us,' Dehn said.