Whistleblowing

If you are a:

• deposit-taker (bank, building society or credit union) with over £250m in assets
• PRA-designated investment firm
• insurer subject to the Solvency II directive

then your firm must set up procedures that will urge staff to inform the relevant team about any internal misconduct in regulated activity.

The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA) provides protection for someone if they are harmed or dismissed as a result of ‘blowing the whistle’ (known as making a disclosure) about a firm or individual.

Whistleblowing information has helped us:

• issue fines and warning letters to firms and individuals
• vary and withdraw permissions
• other kinds of early involvement like asking firms to change their business activities.

Report it

You can either use any existing procedures in your firm, or you can contact us:

• call: +44 (0)20 7066 9200 during office hours or leave a message
• email: whistle@fca.org.uk
• write to: Intelligence Department (Ref PIDA), Financial Conduct Authority, 25 The North Colonnade, London E14 5HS

Contact the PRA for any wrongdoing related to prudential issues in a PRA-regulated firm.

We don’t investigate individual complaints from consumers or customers about firms or individuals. For this see more on how to complain.
If you complain to a firm but you aren’t happy with their response you may be able to complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Information you can disclose

The more detail you can give us, the easier it will be for us to consider what our response should be.

The following things are all useful:

• the names of any individuals involved in the misconduct
• any key dates you know about
• the ‘how’, ‘what’ and ‘where’ of any supporting documents or evidence
• the type of wrongdoing and who else knows about it.

You don’t need to give us your identity or contact details, although it would make it easier if we need to clarify things or ask for further information. If you have provided contact details then we may well proactively contact you if we require any further information, unless you specifically ask us not to.

We would like to learn more about our whistleblowers. If you feel comfortable about telling us, we would like to know:

• your age
• your position and length of time at the firm
• whether you made the disclosure internally, and if you suffered any harm as a result of this

We would only use this information to improve our knowledge and would not share it with other organisations.

Your rights​

PIDA contains a list of ‘prescribed persons’  and the different types of organisation or areas they cover.

We are the prescribed person for concerns about the conduct of funds, markets, firms and individuals subject to FSMA (including banks, building societies, investment or insurance businesses) and about the operation of mutual societies that we register under relevant legislation. 

Concerns about payment systems and the services they provide are also dealt with by our whistleblowing team.

Only an employment tribunal can decide after the event whether or not a disclosure was protected under PIDA, and whether it may result in compensation.

We do not have the power to decide whether a disclosure is protected, or to intervene in employment relations, and we can’t provide legal advice.

Public Concern at Work is an independent charity that gives free, legal and confidential advice.

If you are thinking about making a disclosure but are unsure of your legal rights you should think about  getting independent legal advice from a suitably qualified adviser.