A third of whistleblowers are wrongly dismissed by their employers after ‘blowing the whistle’

  • Business Compliance
  • 40 languages
  • 15m

Learning outcomes

  • Understand need for a whistleblowing policy and how to raise concerns by whistleblowing
  • Learn about what constitutes as whistleblowing and what a 'whistleblower' is
  • Learn how you should handle and store disclosure records and the importance of following up once you have raised a concern

Covered in this course

Course contents

This training course is broken down into 3 sections

  1. 1
    Whistleblowing
  2. 2
    Whistleblowing Policy
  3. 3
    Follow Up

About this course

Providing employees with the right tools and information when it comes to Whistleblowing is essential for an employer to show that they are equipping their staff to deal with any cause for concerns.

Protect state that 1 in 10 UK workers said that in the last two years they had witnessed some possible form of corruption, wrongdoing or malpractice.

This Whistleblowing Training Course will provide information on what a whistleblower is, the laws surrounding whistleblowers and what constitutes as whistleblowing. Whistleblowing Training is essential for any organisation so that the correct procedures are in place should someone choose to come forward.

There are a number of laws in place to protect Whistleblowers and they were created to support these people if they faced retaliation at work or the threat of dismissal after coming forward. Concerns of wrongdoing within a company can be brought forward both internally and externally. This course will advise employees on what procedures to follow and when you should raise your concerns.

Through this online Whistleblowing Training, we’ll equip employees with the information of what they should do if they put forward concerns to an internal or external party through 3 easy steps.

The importance of Whistleblowing Training

It's important that you comply with the law and understand the positive impact this training course can have on your organisation and employees.

Find out more

Available in 40 languages

All inclusive

Machine translated* content is included for free with all our popular courses

It covers LMS navigation, course transcripts and test questions. If you don’t see a course listed in the language you require, just let us know.

*Content which is not English may be machine translated and is for assistive purposes only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of translations.

Our most popular languages

Italian
German
Romanian
French
Polish
Lithuanian

Whistleblowing Training certificate

Download and print

Each of our courses ends with a multiple-choice test to measure your knowledge of the material.

This Whistleblowing Training course concludes with a 20 question multiple choice test with a printable certificate. In addition, brief in-course questionnaires guide the user through the sections of the training and are designed to reinforce learning and ensure maximum user engagement throughout.

As well as printable user certificates, training progress and results are all stored centrally in your LMS (Learning Management System) and can be accessed any time to reprint certificates, check and set pass marks and act as proof of a commitment to ongoing legal compliance.

What does my certificate include?

Your Whistleblowing Training Certificate includes your name, company name (if applicable), name of course taken, pass percentage, completion date, expiry date and stamps of approval or accreditations by recognised authorities.

Please note if you are using our course content via SCORM in a third party LMS then we are unable to provide certificates and you will need to generate these in your host LMS yourself.

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Why is this training important?

Compliance

It’s important that you comply with the law and know the ways in which it affects you and the way you work.

The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998

(PIDA) is derived from Part IV of the Employment Rights Act 1996. It aims to protect employees while making disclosures in the public interest. These disclosures include evidence of illegal activity or damage to the environment. Furthermore, it aims to protect these individuals should they be victimized for disclosing this information, this legislation could aid them in claiming compensation.

For an employee to qualify from the protection of this legislation, they must make a “protected disclosure” to the employer, prescribed person, legal adviser or an otherwise appropriate person.

A qualifying disclosure is any declaration of information which shows one or more of the following:

  • dangers of health and safety
  • risk or damage to the environment
  • unlawful activities or criminal acts in an organisation e.g. fraud
  • miscarriages of justice
  • failure to comply with legal obligations e.g. organisations not having the right insurance
  • the belief that someone is covering up wrongdoing

Business impact of PIDA Non-Compliance

If an employee blows the whistle on an organisation then they have the right to compensation from an employment tribunal which could cost thousands of pounds.

A recent example of someone being fined for whistleblowing includes Barclays boss being fined £642,430 for trying to unmask a whistleblower.

This is a great example of why whistle-blowing training applies to everyone in an organisation.

Data Protection Act 2018 and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Whilst not focussed on whistleblowing there are provisions in place to hable the protection of personal data of companies complying on the lawful basis of processing whistleblower ’protected disclosures’ which includes respecting individuals rights

Business impact of GDPR Non-Compliance

Breaching a whistleblowers rights may subject you to private claims of compensation for damages suffered. This may be on a mental health basis, loss of earnings. These can be commenced by consumer protection bodies and unions on behalf of individuals.

The business may also be subject to a maximum fine under the EU GDPR is €20 million or 4 percent of the business’s total annual turnover.

Business benefits

It’s important that everyone at your organisation understands what Whistleblowing means, what legal protections they have, and what processes are in place for appropriately reporting their concerns.

Employees trained to understand Whistleblowing feel safer, increasing loyalty, and will draw attention to any wrongdoing, helping you act against it sooner. Strong protections and good awareness also increase the likelihood that misconduct can be dealt with internally, minimising the impact on your organisation’s reputation.

This Whistleblowing Training will equip your employees with the knowledge and the confidence to tackle wrongdoing, if it should ever arise, within your organisation.

Why should your business have a whistleblowing policy?

Any organisation can benefit from a whistleblowing policy as creating a hostile work environment is unproductive and will cost you time and money. Without a set policy in place whistleblowers can be subject to retaliation from employees and employers; retaliation against whistleblowers. Retaliation can take various forms, including ostracization, harassment, demotion, or even wrongful termination. These actions can instil a culture of fear in your workplace and may defer them from reporting genuine concerns.

Not only this but without a policy in place it escalates legal issues as it allows unethical behaviour to go unchecked. This can lead to serious legal and reputational issues. Unaddressed wrongdoing may result in financial fraud, safety violations, discrimination, or other forms of misconduct, exposing the organisation to legal liabilities, regulatory investigations, fines, lawsuits, and damage to your business’ reputation.

What should a whistleblowing policy contain?

A whistleblowing policy should provide clear reporting channels, outline investigation procedures, and ensure that whistleblowers are treated with fairness and respect.

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Frequently asked questions