Whistleblowing Policy

7) How the Trust will respond to a disclosure

7.1 The Trust will acknowledge receipt of a disclosure, within 2 working days. In some cases, if insufficient information is provided with the initial disclosure (in the reasonable opinion of the Trust), the whistleblower may be asked to provide further information and the procedure may not continue until this has occurred. All initial contact will usually be made by the Trust’s Whistleblowing contact: the Head of Human Resources at BCTWhistleblowing@birminghamchildrenstrust.co.uk .

7.2 The Trust will then consider and decide whether the disclosure falls under the criteria within this policy and, if not, wherever possible, it will recommend how those concerns can instead be taken forward using appropriate existing Trust procedure(s). The Trust’s decision will be given to the person making the disclosure, wherever possible, as soon as possible after receipt of the disclosure and usually within 5 working days after acknowledging receipt of the disclosure. The decision letter will state whether or not the disclosure is considered to fall under the policy and how it will be dealt with.

7.3 There are situations where the Trust is legally required to investigate, under separate procedures, without the consent of the whistleblower, such as investigating allegations of ill-treatment or abuse of children or vulnerable adults (safeguarding). In these circumstances, the Trust will, wherever possible, advise the whistleblower that the disclosure will be investigated under another process, but there may be situations where it is not appropriate to disclose the existence of these investigations or any further details.

7.4 When a disclosure is considered to come under the whistleblowing policy the Trust will appoint an investigator at its earliest opportunity. This may be an appropriate officer within the Trust, or an independent investigator, dependent on the nature of the disclosure and at the reasonable discretion of the Trust. Once the Trust has assigned an investigator, he/she will be instructed to contact the whistleblower at the first available opportunity and in any event no later than 10 working days from the date of their appointment, to advise them of the following:

a) the name of the investigator appointed to undertake the investigation;

b) arrangements for confidentiality;

c) how the person making the disclosure will be expected to contribute to the investigation;

d) the outcome of any discussions which may have taken place over anonymity;

e) an estimate of how long the investigation is likely to take;

f) the right of a whistleblower to representation by a recognised trade union or work colleague at any meeting; and

g) If they are a member of the public whistleblower, to discuss whether it would be appropriate for them to bring support or representation to any meeting.

7.5 However, dependent on the nature of the disclosure or the reasonable wishes of the whistleblower, it may instead be preferable, or more appropriate or convenient, for contact regarding the disclosure to remain with the Trust’s Whistleblowing contact (see 6).

7.6 In any event, the Trust will arrange to keep the whistleblower updated throughout the process and, wherever possible, will seek to advise the whistleblower of the outcome of the investigation. However, the Trust is bound by the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Human Rights Act 1998 in respect of allegations relating to individuals, and may not be able to disclose specific information in certain circumstances.

7.7 The use of this policy does not automatically amount to acceptance by the Trust that the information provided by an employee is necessarily a protected disclosure.

7.8 The Trust shall treat all disclosures consistently and fairly.