Whistleblowing

A whistleblower is a worker who reports certain types of wrongdoing, usually something they have seen at work, in what is known as a 'whistleblowing disclosure' or 'protected disclosure'. To be protected, the wrongdoing disclosed must be in the public interest, meaning it must affect others such as the general public, rather than being a purely personal grievance; personal grievances are not covered unless the particular case is in the public interest. Protection extends to employees, trainees such as student nurses, agency workers, and members of a Limited Liability Partnership.

As a whistleblower, a worker is protected by law and should not be treated unfairly or lose their job because they 'blow the whistle' — being involved in whistleblowing is one of the reasons that makes a dismissal automatically unfair, and an employee does not need two years' service to bring such a claim. Confidentiality or 'gagging' clauses in an employment contract or settlement agreement cannot lawfully be used to stop a worker making a protected disclosure to a lawyer, their employer, or a prescribed person or body, although such a clause can still validly restrict other kinds of disclosure.