Whistleblowing policy

8.1    The council is legally required to maintain a list of disclosures raised by employees made under PIDA. Inclusion in this list does not amount to acceptance that the communication is a Protected Disclosure and any subsequent decision that the matter falls outside PIDA will be added to the record on the list.

8.2    The council will record details of all disclosures made under this policy as well as the outcomes, anonymising your identity where necessary and using this information for the purposes of identifying areas of concern. This could indicate whether further action is required and, where appropriate, the information shared with other regulatory bodies.

8.3    If you wish to complain to the council about how we have handled an investigation you should address your complaint directly to the Monitoring Officer, who will then:
•    notify the Chief Executive that a complaint has been made regarding a whistleblowing investigation;
•    determine which service is best placed to deal with the complaint; and,
•     appoint an appropriate officer to deal with the complaint.

8.4.   If the complaint is regarding a whistleblowing investigation concerning the Monitoring Officer or the Chief Executive, this will be considered at the appropriate level within the council. This is specific to whistleblowing investigations and separate to the council’s corporate complaints procedure.

Updated: February 2023
Next review due: February 2025