The UK’s financial watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched mandatory training to help its staff identify individuals making protected disclosures and make sure intelligence received by the FCA is dealt with correctly and identities protected. This is part of a wider campaign to encourage people to blow the whistle on any wrongdoing in their organisations.
As part of its ‘In confidence, with confidence’ campaign, designed to encourage individuals working in financial services to report potential wrongdoing to the FCA, and remind them of the confidentiality processes in place, the FCA has produced a digital toolkit for industry bodies, consumer groups and whistleblowing groups to encourage people to report their concerns. Whistle blowers that report to the FCA will now have a dedicated case manager.
The announcement comes at a time when the government is reported to be considering a review into protections for whistleblowing in response to a spike of dismissals during the pandemic. More than 2,000 employment tribunal claims for whistleblowing detriment were made between April and December 2020, and cases have more than doubled in the last seven years.
