Calls to the national charity that supports whistleblowers rose by almost a quarter in 2023, and two-fifths of these claimed their concern had been ignored by their employer.
Protect, the whistleblowing charity dealt with 3,407 cases last year, with 23% coming from the charity sector, 24% from the general public and 42% from the private sector.
Most of the calls received by Protect came from the health and social work (30%) sectors, followed by education (15%) and financial services (7%). Calls from health and social workers increased by 48% between 2022 and 2023.
The charity also found that people on lower incomes were more likely to call them. Elizabeth Gardiner, Protect’s chief executive, said “There’s often an assumption that whistleblowers are highly paid execs working senior roles in big firms,” she said. “But what we find is that nearly half of callers to our advice line earn less than £30,000.”
“We should be pleased that so many people are coming forward and speaking up in their workplace to stop harm. Whistleblowers are a valuable resource to employers and protect the public interest by holding organisations and governments to account.”
Protect provides online templates to support legal claims and their advisers are legally trained and supervised by a qualified solicitor.
