How to be a whistleblower

Whistleblowing is a vital part of a healthy civil society, helping to boost transparency and improve charities.

 

It is certainly not something for charity leaders to fear. These reports of incidents, such as criminal activity or harassment and abuse by staff, should be encouraged by the sector.

 

A charity that acts on whistleblowing reports will give staff, volunteers, trustees, and service users assurances that concerns will be acted on.

 

Public trust in charities can also be boosted by whistleblowing, as it shows a willingness to improve.

 

After a decade of high-profile charity scandals involving sexual misconduct and financial irregularities, trust in the work charities do is particularly important.

 

With regulators and charities improving their whistleblowing procedures in recent years, it has never been easier for reports to be made and acted on.

 

Here we look at how those involved in charities can be whistleblowers. We also look at recent evidence around whistleblowing, including why whistleblowing spiked amid the COVID-19 pandemic and how reports have dried up following the health crisis.

 

 

Advice on being a whistleblower

 

The Charity Commission promotes a confidential advice line service (0800 055 7214) available to people with concerns. This is run by the independent charity Protect, which also offers support and guidance to whistleblowers and signposts the relevant regulators to make a disclosure.

 

Those wanting to make a disclosure to the Charity Commission can use its dedicated whistleblowing@charitycommission.gov.uk email address, which the regulator will follow up with a phone call.

 

This follow-up call of speaking directly to each whistleblower “is a key part of our assessment function”, says the regulator.

 

“This is our standard approach and allows us to better identify and investigate wrongdoing and potential misconduct and mismanagement in the administration of charities,” it adds.

 

Charities need to have clear pathways for staff and volunteers to raise concerns.

 

Umbrella body the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) stresses that whistleblowing is for when internal processes when staff raise concerns “have gone wrong and people feel their concerns are not being taken seriously”.

 

A robust whistleblowing process needs to allow people to escalate concerns and report to a senior member of staff, a trustee, or an outside organisation.

 

“Managers need to understand their responsibilities around the investigation process, maintaining the confidentiality of the whistleblowing and feeding back to the person raising the concern,” advises the NCVO.

 

 

Whistleblowing post-COVID-19

 

The COVID-19 pandemic saw a massive increase in the number of whistleblowing disclosures made to the Charity Commission for England and Wales.

 

According to the regulator, there was a 74.5% increase in reports between 2019/20 and 2020/21 from 247 reports to 431. This spike was “driven by the uncertainties and financial challenges” the pandemic presented, in particularly around cyber security amid remote working and working practices, says the Commission.

 

But since the pandemic has ended reports dropped by 35% to 281 in 2021/22, although term figures show an overall rise in whistleblowing reports since the Charity Commission began recording incidents in 2015, when just 87 reports were listed.

 

A key factor in this wider trend is increasing support from the regulator for whistleblowers, which guarantees their protection and makes it easier for people to raise issues.

 

 

Who are whistleblowers?

 

The majority (52%) of whistleblowing reports made to the Commission are from current employees and for members of staff.

 

The remaining 48% is made up of volunteers, trustees, and others who hold non-salaried roles within the charity.

 

In 2021/22 out of 281 reports to the Commission 80 were from employees, 67 from former staff members, 42 from trustees, 4 from volunteers and 19 from former trustees. Only four reports were made by the public and six were made anonymously.  

 

Education and training charities are the most likely to garner reports, with these sectors cited 124 times. Health, disability, and anti-poverty charities are also cited more frequently than other sectors.

 

The areas where whistleblowing reports are low are armed forces and emergency services charities, as well as those involved in animal welfare. 

 

Service delivery, particularly to children and older people, is the most likely area of operation in the charity sector to be subject to reports, as is advocacy services and advice.

 

The charity operation areas to receive the fewest reports include grant makers and umbrella bodies.

 

Low reporting could indicate good practice, but it could also suggest staff and stakeholders are reluctant to report concerns.

 

 

What are whistleblowers’ concerns?

 

The top three issues disclosed are concerns around governance, safeguarding, and financial harm. These have consistently been the main areas covered in whistleblowing reports over the last six years.

 

While governance failures remain the number one concern raised, there has been a dip in reporting around safeguarding, which reduced to 90 reports in 2021/22, compared to 122 in 2020/21. Financial harm has dropped markedly to 50 in the latest figures, compared to 121 last year. This underlines how concerns around financial irregularities have fallen off since the end of the pandemic.

 

Other issues raised include conflicts of interest, reputational damage, and a breach of data regulations.

 

Among staff and former employees reporting incidents, safeguarding and protecting people is the top concern. For trustees the main issue in reports is governance failures.