What is it?

The Public Interest Disclosure Act of 1998 came into force in July 1999. This Act encourages employees not to turn a blind eye to what they suspect might be malpractice within their organisation, but to report it.

The Council’s Policy

Bournemouth Council recognised the importance of the concept of ‘whistleblowing’ before the act was even in force.

In October 1998, a " Standards of Conduct Booklet" was drawn up after consultation with Employees and Unions here and with the help of the independent charity, Public Concern at Work.

The Council is committed to dealing responsibly, openly and professionally with any genuine concern you may have about: -

• malpractice, be it a danger to you, recipients of our services, or the public generally
• financial malpractice
• breach of legal obligations we owe to others
• damage to the environment.
• danger to health and safety
• breach of Equal Opportunities Policy
• incidents of bullying or harassment

We will ensure that you will suffer no recrimination or victimisation as a result of raising a genuine concern about malpractice. This is true, even if your concern later proves to be unfounded.

What you should do if you have a concern

The Council cannot operate this policy without your help. The simple fact is that in many cases you or another member of staff may suspect something is going wrong, long before we find out about it. In the worst cases, this may not be until an accident has happened, or serious damage has been caused.

If something at work is troubling you enough for you to mention it to your family or friends, please tell us. While I hope you will feel able to raise such a matter with your line manager, we recognise that you may prefer another contact point, or would welcome the chance to discuss your concern with someone in confidence first.

The Standards of Conduct booklet identifies a number of people who can be contacted if you have a concern. Alternatively, you can report your concern by e-mail (see BORIS). If you wish to raise a concern in confidence, the ‘Standards of Conduct’ Booklet explains how you can do this.