Whistleblowing Policy

1) Introduction

1.1 Birmingham Children’s Trust is committed to ensuring that it, and the people working for it, complies with the highest standards of openness, honesty and accountability. However, we acknowledge that there may be occasions when things go wrong or the Trust may unknowingly harbour unethical conduct. We believe a culture of openness and accountability is essential in order to prevent such situations occurring or to address them if they do occur.

1.2 The term whistleblowing is generally used only with reference to employees (referred to in Law as making a protected disclosure) and has a specific legal definition pursuant to the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, i.e. a disclosure of information which, in the reasonable belief of the employee, is made in the public interest and tends to show serious misconduct. The information must always be more than an un-particularised allegation, or mere opinion.   However, any individual can make a whistleblowing disclosure including members of the public.

1.3 The term ‘employee’ includes an employee of the Trust, agency staff, contractor or consultant doing work for the Trust, collectively referred to in this policy as “employees”.  

1.3 This policy is designed to provide guidance on how an employee or any other person should report any suspected serious misconduct as well as reassurance that any disclosure can be made safely.  

1.4 This policy seeks to:

a) encourage whistleblowers and/or their representatives to feel confident in raising disclosures in the public interest about suspected serious misconduct in the Trust and its services, without fear of reprisals or victimisation, even where the disclosures are not subsequently confirmed by an investigation;

b) set out how the Trust will handle and respond to disclosures;

c) give a clear message that disclosures are taken seriously;

d) ensure that where a disclosure proves to be well founded, the individuals responsible for such serious misconduct will be dealt with in an appropriate manner;

e) set out what whistleblowers can expect by way of confidentiality and protection when making a disclosure; and

f) identify independent support for employees who wish to make a whistleblowing disclosure (see section 5).

1.5 Where any employee or any other person is aware of any serious misconduct, such as:

• failure to comply with a legal obligation;
• a criminal offence;
• a miscarriage of justice;
• a danger to the health or safety of any individual or damage to the environment, or;
• information tending to show that any of the above matters is being deliberately concealed;

committed by or related to the actions of:

• the Trust;
• Non-Executive and Executive Board Member(s); and/or
• contractors, agency staff, suppliers or consultants of the Trust in the course of their work for the Trust;

and reports it, the Trust will investigate any such disclosure and, where appropriate, in the reasonable opinion of the Trust, take action. The Trust is also committed to preventing any harassment, victimisation or unfair treatment of any person arising from their whistleblowing, and where appropriate, will take disciplinary action against any employee responsible for such harassment, victimisation or unfair treatment against a whistleblower.