Whistleblowing Policy
Aims of this Policy
It is important that any criminal behaviour or other wrongdoing by an employee, or any individual undertaking work with the Company is reported and properly dealt with.
This Whistleblowing Policy is underpinned by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (known as the Whistleblowers Act). This gives legal protection to employees against being dismissed or penalised by their employers as a result of publicly disclosing certain serious concerns. The organisation is committed to ensuring that no member of staff should feel at a disadvantage in raising legitimate concerns.
Scope of the Policy
This policy is intended to cover concerns which are in the public interest and may at least initially be investigated separately but might then lead to other procedures e.g. disciplinary. These concerns could include:
Financial malpractice or impropriety or fraud
Failure to comply with a legal obligation or Statutes
Dangers to Health & Safety or the environment
Criminal activity
Improper conduct or unethical behaviour
Attempts to conceal any of these
Confidentiality
The organisation will treat all such disclosures in a confidential and sensitive manner. The identity of the employee making the allegation may be kept confidential so long as it does not hinder or frustrate any investigation. However, the investigation process may reveal the source of the information and the individual making the disclosure may need to provide a statement as part of the evidence required.
Procedure
If an employee has a concern, they should first raise it with their line manager, verbally or in writing. If they feel that this person may be involved or do not wish to approach them, then they should approach a company Director.
If the employee feels that the company director may be involved or feel that it is inappropriate to raise this with director, the employee should report the matter to If you need to contact a director outside of your centre, the current contacts are Ginny Bradwell (London) and Stuart Brown (Cambridge).
The organisation will ensure that an investigation takes place and make an objective assessment of the concern. The employee will be kept advised of progress and the organisation will ensure the action necessary to resolve the concern is taken. An investigation into the initial disclosure will start within 5 working days.
In all cases, the employee is encouraged to exhaust First Intuition’s internal procedures before contacting external sources such as the Health & Safety Executive, Environment Agency, ESFA etc.
Should the employee feel the internal procedures at First Intuition have been exhausted, or are not appropriate, then they can make a disclosure direct to the relevant regulatory body, or agency. As an Independent Training Provider one of these agencies could be the ESFA. The following link provides information on how to make a disclosure directly to the ESFA – https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-esfa-handles-whistleblowing-disclosures
Protection and Information
First Intuition will endeavour to protect whistleblowers in line with this policy.
Further information on whistleblowing, including your rights as a whistleblower, can be found on the Gov.uk website at the following link – https://www.gov.uk/whistleblowing
Employees can contact the Protect charity which is specifically set up to advise and support individuals and organisations in the case of whistleblowing. https://protect-advice.org.uk/