Government confirms whistleblowing referral plans

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has confirmed that employment tribunals will be able to pass allegations that arise in the context of a claim that the claimant has suffered a detriment or been dismissed for making a protected disclosure to a prescribed regulator. 

The proposals are contained in the Government's response to its July 2009 consultation. The new procedure will apply to claims received by the Tribunals Service on or after 6 April 2010. 

The employment tribunal claim form will be amended, so that claimants will be invited to give their express consent for the tribunal to refer the claim form to the relevant regulator. The aim of the proposals is to encourage claimants who may not have otherwise considered passing information to the relevant regulator to consider doing so. The employment judge's role is not to assess the allegation itself, so the referral will be carried out by the administrative staff. 

If the claimant agrees that the employment tribunal should pass the claim form to the relevant regulator, both parties to the tribunal proceedings will be contacted in writing by the tribunal, to confirm that the regulator has been contacted. 

• Employment tribunal claims and the Public Interest Disclosure Act (PDF format, 77K) The Government's response is available on the BIS website. 

Also

The XpertHR line manager briefing on whistleblowing looks at the law and best practice on whistleblowing. 

How to handle whistleblowing Entry from the XpertHR "how to" section, covering the management of public interest disclosures made by workers. 

The XpertHR policies and documents section on protecting your business includes a whistleblowing policy. 

The XpertHR case reports section on whistleblowing, includes cases on detriment, third-party misconduct and unfair dismissal.