Whistleblowing

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Under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, an employee can report to the FRC concerns in relation to matters which are within the scope of the FRC’s regulatory duties, and such disclosures will be protected if certain criteria are fulfilled.

The legislation is technical and specific, and you may wish to take independent advice.

If your employer has a whistle-blowing procedure, you should follow that first. Read more information about whistle-blowing to the FRC on this page.

If you wish to contact the FRC in relation to whistle-blowing, use these contact details:

By email: [email protected]
By post: PIDA Officer, Financial Reporting Council, 13th Floor, 1 Harbour Exchange Square, London E14 9GE
By phone: 020 7492 2497

Whistleblowing disclosures

What is ‘whistleblowing’?

The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (the Act) protects workers[1] who are worried about certain types of wrongdoing in their workplace and want to speak up about it– i.e. 'blow the whistle'. Workers can take their employer to an employment tribunal if they believe they are suffering victimisation or discrimination for raising their concerns.

You can raise whistleblowing concerns with the FRC in certain circumstances (see below). However, it is only an employment tribunal that can decide whether or not a disclosure is protected under the Act. The FRC does not have the power to decide whether a disclosure is protected, or to intervene in employment relations, and it cannot provide legal advice.

Should you have concerns regarding breaches of the Modern Slavery Act, you should contact the Comptroller & Auditor General. More information on how to do that can be found

[1] ‘Worker’ has a broad definition under the Act and includes employees and those employed on a temporary basis or through an agency. on the NAO website.

What whistleblowing concerns can you raise with the FRC?

Under the Act, you can report to the FRC certain types of concern (see below) about your employer which you reasonably believe are substantially true, and which fall within the FRC’s remit as a prescribed person[2] . The FRC is a prescribed person for matters relating to:

  • statutory audit in the UK (including oversight, monitoring and enforcement);
  • the independent oversight of the regulation of the accountancy and actuarial professions;
  • the independent supervision of Auditors General;
  • the monitoring of major local audits, and investigation and enforcement action in relation to local auditors in public interest cases;
  • compliance with the requirements of accounting and reporting legislation; and
  • the investigation of, and enforcement action in relation to, the conduct of members of the accountancy and actuarial professions in public interest cases.

You may raise concerns under this policy, in relation the matters detailed above, if, in your reasonable belief, it is in the public interest to do so, and the concern tends to show one or more of the following:

▪ that a criminal offence has been committed, is being committed or is likely to be committed;

▪ that a person has failed, is failing or is likely to fail to comply with any legal obligation to which they are subject;

▪ that a miscarriage of justice has occurred, is occurring or is likely to occur;

▪ that the health or safety of any individual has been, is being or is likely to be endangered;

▪ that the environment has been, is being or is likely to be damaged; or

▪ that information tending to show any matter falling within any one of the preceding paragraphs has been, or is likely to be, deliberately concealed.

Under the Act, the FRC is not required to investigate every disclosure it receives; the FRC can only investigate disclosures to the extent permitted by its legal powers.

[1] The FRC is a prescribed person for the purposes of receiving whistleblowing disclosures in respect of specified matters within its remit, as set out in the Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons) Order 2014. Further information

How should you raise a whistleblowing concern?

Your employer may have their own internal whistleblowing procedures. If so, you should consider whether it is appropriate to raise your concern with your employer first. If your employer does not have any procedures, or you are uncomfortable about using their procedures, or you have raised your concern with your employer but are concerned by their response or lack of response, then it may be appropriate for you to raise your concerns with the FRC.

If you raise your concerns with the FRC instead of your employer, your disclosure will be protected provided you:

  • make the disclosure in the public interest (rather than for any ulterior motives);
  • raise a concern that falls within one of the categories of wrongdoing detailed above;
  • reasonably believe that the information, and any allegation it contains, are substantially true; and
  • have reason to believe that the matter falls within the FRC's remit as a prescribed person.

If you make a protected disclosure to the FRC, you will be protected from reprisal in the course of your employment in the same way as if you had made the disclosure to your employer.

Can you raise a whistleblowing concern anonymously?

Yes, you can. If you raise your whistleblowing concern anonymously, the FRC will still take it seriously and investigate it as appropriate.

However, it may be more difficult for the FRC to assess and investigate your concern effectively; and to communicate with you. You should also be aware that if you raise a concern anonymously it may be more difficult to qualify for protection under the Act, as it may not be possible to link you to the disclosure if an employment tribunal considers your case.

If you do decide to identify yourself, your concern will be treated in confidence and the FRC will seek, where possible, to protect your identity from the organisation you are reporting. The FRC will only disclose your identity to the organisation that you are reporting where it considers it necessary to do so for the fair and appropriate investigation of your complaint, however, the FRC cannot guarantee anonymity in all cases. During the course of any enquiries made in relation to your disclosure, the organisation may be able to work out your identity.

How can I contact the FRC?

You can contact the FRC as follows:

By email: [email protected] or [email protected].
By post: Whistleblowing, Financial Reporting Council, 13th Floor, 1 Harbour Exchange Square, London, E14 9GE.
You may also want to visit our webpage on making complaints.

When you first contact the FRC, we may only be able to give you limited feedback about the steps we take as a result of the disclosure. In many cases, there are restrictions on the disclosure of information which the FRC has obtained in the course of undertaking its work – those restrictions may prevent us from giving detailed feedback.

What will the FRC do?

There are a number of ways the FRC may respond to a disclosure, depending on what you tell us, how serious the matter is, and the scope of our legal powers.

In the first place, the FRC will consider whether it is the appropriate organisation to receive the information, or whether there are other agencies or bodies which may be better placed to register your concern.

If other agencies or bodies are more appropriate, the FRC will either:

  • encourage you to contact the agency(s) yourself; or
  • consider passing on the information to the agency or body directly. Where appropriate, we will seek to obtain your consent before disclosing either the information disclosed by you or your identity to another agency or body; there may, however, be circumstances where this is not appropriate (for example, where we need to disclose information to the police).

If the FRC is the appropriate organisation to receive the information then the matter will be referred to the relevant team within the FRC. That team will decide whether any further action should be taken and, if so, what action. You will be informed of any internal referral and of any further feedback that will be given to you. This will be dependent on applicable procedures and statutory provisions.

What information and evidence do you need to provide the FRC?

You can make your disclosure over the telephone, or in writing. It is not FRC policy to hold interviews with whistleblowers.

The Act does not require you to have evidence before blowing the whistle. However, you must reasonably believe that the disclosure you are making is in in the public interest and is substantially true.

Any evidence you do have is likely to be helpful in considering whether further steps should be taken. Such evidence might include:

  • the names of any individuals involved in the suspected wrongdoing;
  • the nature of the suspected misconduct – what has gone wrong?
  • a chronology of the facts - what happened, where and when?
  • who else knows about the wrongdoing?
  • any other key dates you can recall.
  • any supporting documents or evidence you may have.

The FRC will not encourage you to proactively obtain any further information from any source, whatever the circumstances, but it may ask you to clarify the information you have already provided.

How will your personal data be treated?

The FRC will treat your personal data in accordance with its data protection policies and comply with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK GDPR. Your rights in relation to your personal data, and our privacy statement, can be found on our Privacy page.

Who can you contact for advice if you are thinking of raising a whistleblowing concern?

If you are thinking of raising a whistleblowing concern under this Policy but feel you need advice before speaking to anyone, you may wish to take independent legal advice from a lawyer.

You can also contact one of the following for advice and support:

  1. The Citizens Advice Bureau
  2. Protect, which is the independent whistleblowing charity and offers free, independent and confidential advice about whistleblowing. Visit Protect's website. They can also be contacted for more information on their whistleblowing advice line number which is 020 3117 2520 or by using the contact form and can be found on YouTube and X.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    'Worker’ has a broad definition under the Act and includes employees and those employed on a temporary basis or through an agency.
  2. [2]

    The FRC is a prescribed person for the purposes of receiving whistleblowing disclosures in respect of specified matters within its remit, as set out in the Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons) Order 2014. Further information
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