Whistleblowing Policy (Jan26)

Introduction

Under certain circumstances you will have legal protection if you report a concern about the activities or actions of the firm.

Historically, in the workplace, some individuals have been worried about reporting their concerns for fear of suffering detriment or even having their employment terminated. As a result, legislation has been enacted to safeguard individuals if they raise concerns of wrongdoing.

Purpose

We do not wish for anyone working for the firm to feel as though they cannot report internal wrongdoing or malpractice which poses a risk to others. Accordingly, we have produced this policy to explain how you can report concerns, in what circumstances you should report concerns and what protections will be available to you after you have done so.

The policy is designed to support our firm values, to ensure that you can report concerns without fear of retribution and to provide a transparent and confidential process for dealing with any concerns.

Scope

This policy applies to all employees in The Eric Whitehead Partnership, including managers and consultants.

Responsibility

Timothy Halliday (COLP) is responsible for this policy and for monitoring our compliance with it.

All of us, and any third-party to whom this policy applies, are responsible for ensuring we comply with it. Failure to do so may result in disciplinary action.

What is whistleblowing?

The official name for whistleblowing is ‘making a disclosure in the public interest’ although this is not commonly used.

The definition used by Protect, the whistleblowing charity (which is in line with the legal definition) is as follows:

‘A worker raising a concern with someone in authority – internally and/or externally (e.g. regulators, media, MPs) – about wrongdoing, risk or malpractice that affects others.’

The terms ‘speak up’ or ‘raising concerns’ all fall within the definition of whistleblowing and mean the same thing.

In such circumstances, the worker’s employment rights will be protected, provided that they follow the correct procedures.

It is important to distinguish between whistleblowing and raising a grievance – the key point to remember when considering whether your concerns are best raised as whistleblowing concerns or grievances is that whistleblowing is about raising concerns which pose a risk to others and are in the public interest, whereas grievances are typically issues about how you exclusively are being treated and not the treatment of others. Please see the People Management Procedures policy for more information on the firm’s grievance procedure.

The law and Codes of Conduct rules

The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (the Act) protects workers from negative treatment or dismissal as a result of disclosing information relating to suspected malpractice or wrongdoing. Under the Act, a protected disclosure means a qualifying disclosure which is made by a worker.

A qualifying disclosure means any disclosure of information that, in the reasonable belief of the worker making the disclosure, indicates that one or more of the following things has happened, is happening or is likely to happen:

a criminal offence;
failure to comply with any legal obligations;
a miscarriage of justice;
danger to the health and safety of any individual(s);
damage to the environment; or
deliberate concealment of any of the above.

The person making the disclosure must have a reasonable belief that the information discovered indicates any breach or offence listed above. It is immaterial whether the belief is correct as long as the worker can show that the belief was held and that it was a reasonable belief at the time of the disclosure.

In addition, the SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors contains the following (and the Code for Firms has equivalent provisions):

7.4 You respond promptly to the SRA and:

(a) provide full and accurate explanations, information and documents in response to any request or requirement; and

(b) ensure that relevant information which is held by you, or by third parties carrying out functions on your behalf which are critical to the delivery of your legal services, is available for inspection by the SRA.

7.6 You notify the SRA promptly if:

(a) you are subject to any criminal charge, conviction or caution, subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974;

(b) a relevant insolvency event occurs in relation to you; or

(i) of any material changes to information previously provided to the SRA, by you or on your behalf, about you or your practice, including any change to information recorded in the register; and

(ii) that information provided to the SRA, by you or on your behalf, about you or your practice is or may be false, misleading, incomplete or inaccurate.

7.7 You report promptly to the SRAor another approved regulator, as appropriate, any facts or matters that you reasonably believe are capable of amounting to a serious breach of their regulatory arrangements by any person regulated by them (including you).

7.8 Notwithstanding paragraph 7.7, you inform the SRApromptly of any facts or matters that you reasonably believe should be brought to its attention in order that it may investigate whether a serious breach of its regulatory arrangements has occurred or otherwise exercise its regulatory powers.

7.9 You do not subject any personto detrimental treatment for making or proposing to make a report or providing or proposing to provide information based on a reasonably held belief under paragraph 7.7 or 7.8 above, or paragraph 3.9, 3.10, 9.1(d) or (e) or 9.2(b) or (c) of the SRA Code of Conduct for Firms, irrespective of whether the SRA or another approved regulator subsequently investigates or takes any action in relation to the facts or matters in question.

7.10 If requested to do so by the SRA, you investigate whether there have been any serious breaches that should be reported to the SRA.

7.12 Any obligation under this section or otherwise to notify, to provide information to, the SRA will be satisfied if you provide information to your firm’s COLP or COFA as and where appropriate, on the understanding that they will do so

How to make a disclosure

Under the PIDA, you can make a whistleblowing disclosure to one of the following:

your employer
a legal adviser
government ministers – this only applies if you work for a statutory body
another person who is responsible for the wrongdoing
a prescribed person or body
any other person or body if there’s a good reason to, or if it’s related to an ‘exceptionally serious failure’ – for example, the police or media

It is good practice to consider the list in order where possible – you can skip people in the list if you consider it is inappropriate to disclose to them.

If you feel that you cannot make a disclosure to any of the above people or bodies, you should consider:

getting legal advice
contacting Protect
talking to your MP or MSP– they might be able to give advice on who to raise your concern with

Making a qualifying disclosure within the firm

If you discover any information within the firm that you reasonably believe relates to malpractice or wrongdoing which poses a risk to others, you are encouraged to report it internally in the first instance to Timothy Halliday (COLP).

Making a qualifying disclosure to a prescribed person outside the firm

You can make a qualifying disclosure relating to malpractice or wrongdoing to a person who has been prescribed by the Secretary of State for the purposes of receiving disclosures.

To ensure that the disclosure is protected, you should:

make the disclosure in good faith; and
reasonably believe that (i) the information disclosed, and any allegation made is substantially true, and (ii) the malpractice or wrongdoing falls within any description of matters for which the person is prescribed.

Conversely, the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, includes a requirement for a whistleblower to act ‘in the public interest’ but removes the need for the disclosure to be made in ‘good faith’. There, the primary test for whether a disclosure is protected is the public interest test.

Due to the inconsistency in legislation, best practice would be for all three requirements to be satisfied, i.e. the disclosure is made in good faith, you reasonably believe that the information disclosed/ any allegation is substantially true, and disclosure is in the public interest. If you have any queries in relation to what amounts to a qualifying disclosure, we recommend that you contact Protect to discuss further (their contact details are on page 6).

For a full list of prescribed persons please refer to the schedule of The Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons) Order 2014.

Making a disclosure to non-prescribed persons

Wider disclosures can also be made, for example, to the police or to non-prescribed persons such as the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). Individuals will be protected provided that they:

make the disclosure in good faith;
reasonably believe that the information they disclose is substantially true; and
do not make the disclosure for personal gain.

You should also consider your duties under the SRA Standards and Regulations, as outlined above.

Our policy

We value our reputation and the honesty of those working for us and recognise that an important aspect of ethical behaviour includes a procedure to allow you to report any information which you believe indicates malpractice or wrongdoing.

However, the aim of this policy is to help you if you have a genuine belief of wrongdoing or malpractice. It is not designed to question decisions made by the senior management team, nor should it be used to reconsider matters which have already been dealt with under other processes i.e. complaints, disciplinary or harassment procedures.

Procedures for making a disclosure

You should report any information that you reasonably believe relates to malpractice or wrongdoing which poses a risk to others to Timothy Halliday (COLP) or Nicholas John (Risk Manager). The appropriate person will then assist you in deciding whether the information needs to be reported externally.

If reporting the disclosure internally is not appropriate, you should consider reporting the information to a prescribed person outside the firm (as mentioned above) or to another relevant authority such as the police or the SRA.

If you have any concerns relating to money laundering or bribery, please report them to the Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO).

You can make any reports within the firm either orally or in writing. We will keep internal reports confidential; however we cannot guarantee anonymity if the information has to be reported externally and legal action is required.

Please be assured that anonymous reports will be taken seriously, although the follow-up line of enquiry may be limited in these circumstances if insufficient information is received and there is no way of following this up.

Non-disclosure agreements and confidentiality

A non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is a contract or clause within a contract (such as an employment or agency agreement) under which it is agreed that certain information will be kept confidential. However, an NDA cannot be used to prevent you from:

making a protected disclosure;
reporting misconduct, or a serious breach of regulatory requirements, to an appropriate regulator; or
reporting an offence to the police or other law enforcement agency and/or cooperating with a criminal investigation/prosecution.

If you are uncertain about whether a disclosure you would like to make is outside the scope of an NDA that you are subject to you should seek independent legal advice.

Legal professional privilege

Where your concerns relate to activity on a client matter, you must consider whether legal professional privilege (LPP) applies before making a disclosure as LPP cannot be overridden. Information subject to LPP cannot form part of a protected disclosure and therefore you should seek advice (either from a senior member of staff, if appropriate, or independent legal advice) if you think that LPP might apply to the information.

What will happen once you have reported a concern?

There will be no adverse consequences for you if you report a concern in good faith. However, if this is not the case, you may face disciplinary action.

All internal reports will be fully investigated and may result in:

disciplinary action (including dismissal) against the wrongdoer; or
no action if the allegation proves to be unfounded.

Tips when considering whistleblowing

The whistleblowing charity, Protect (formerly Public Concern at Work) provides guidance to individuals with whistleblowing concerns. Protect highlight several points for individuals to keep in mind when whistleblowing:

ensure you have considered your employer’s whistleblowing policy;
let the facts speak for themselves – do not make ill-considered allegations;
separate personal grievances from matters of wider concern;
remember that you are a witness, and not a complainant – communicate the concern in a professional, calm and factual manner;
do not become a private detective – it is not your job to investigate; it is more important to raise your concerns as soon as possible so any action can be taken by the appropriate individuals within the organisation to stop the harm sooner;
think about the risks and outcomes before you act;
remember that you may be mistaken, or that there may be an innocent or good explanation;
recognise that you may not be thanked;
consider whether there are others who are willing to speak up with you; and
consider seeking advice from another source, such as a trade union, advisory body, or solicitor.

Should you wish to discuss any concerns further, Protect can be contacted via their website or by telephone: 020 3117 2520.

Other support services:

Law Society Practice Advice Service

Provide support for solicitors on a wide range of areas of practice.

Telephone: 020 7320 5675 from 9am to 5pm on weekdays.

Email: practiceadvice@lawsociety.org.uk.

SRA professional ethics helpline

The SRA’s professional ethics helpline for solicitors offers advice on the SRA Standards and Regulations to solicitors, trainees and solicitor apprentices. You can choose to remain anonymous.

Telephone: 0370 606 2577 from 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 4pm, Monday to Friday.

Web chat: between 9am and 10am, 1pm and 2pm, and 4pm and 5pm, Monday to Friday (closed on Wednesday).

Email: professional.ethics@sra.org.uk

EU Whistleblowing Directive

We do not have to comply with the EU Whistleblowing Directive as a UK organisation as the UK is no longer a member of the EU and non-EU members do not legally have to comply with the Directive. That being said, it is crucial to ensure that our whistleblowing arrangements remain of an appropriate standard and are effective.

Review of this policy

This policy will be reviewed, at least annually, by Timothy Halliday (COLP).

January 2026

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