How DfE handles whistleblowing disclosures
What is whistleblowing
Whistleblowing is the disclosure of information which, in the
reasonable belief of the whistleblower, is made in the public
interest. Whistleblowing disclosures tend to show that one
or more of the following has occurred, is occurring or is likely
to occur:
- a criminal offence (this may include, for example, types of
financial impropriety such as fraud)
- a breach of a legal obligation
- a miscarriage of justice
- danger to the health or safety of any individual
- damage to the environment
- deliberate covering up of wrongdoing in the above categories
You can make a whistleblowing disclosure directly to DfE.
Your employer is also required to have appropriate whistleblowing
procedures in place that ensure that concerns are handled
properly and fairly.
Under the Public Interest
Disclosure Act (PIDA), you have
additional protections if you are a worker raising a concern in
the public interest and you have privileged knowledge of the
educational institution.
How we define whistleblowing
DfE use a
definition of whistleblowing distinct from the legal definition.
This is to protect volunteers and employees.
We define whistleblowing as:
A public interest concern about wrongdoing, malpractice or poor
practice raised by any individual or group of individuals who can
reasonably be expected to have privileged knowledge of the
governance or administration of the institution (such as a
current or recent member of staff, or a current or recent member
of the governing body).
Your disclosure
Your disclosure will be subject to:
As a whistleblower, you are protected by law, and you should not
be treated unfairly or lose your job because you raised a
concern.
What we will do with your disclosure
After receiving your disclosure, we'll assign it to the relevant
team. They will then:
-
gather further information
-
refer the case to another organisation (for example, Ofsted
or the police) if necessary
If there is sufficient evidence, we will look to hold individuals
or organisations to account. Depending on our findings, our
actions will include:
-
seeking assurances that an academy trust is meeting its
statutory requirements
-
using our intervention powers as outlined in the academy
trust handbook and support and
intervention in schools statutory guidance
-
publishing an investigation report in line with
our investigation
publishing policy
-
referring to the police for consideration of criminal
sanctions
-
referring to regulatory bodies including the Charity
Commission and Insolvency Service
-
recovering funds and possibly termination of contracts
Confidentiality
Unless DfE are under a legal
obligation to do so, we will not share your personal details with
any third party without first obtaining your consent.
We also owe a duty of confidentiality to others and will not be
able to share details of any action which we have deemed
appropriate.
Anonymity
You can disclose information anonymously.
This may make it harder for you to benefit from the protections
of PIDA.
This is because an anonymous disclosure may make it difficult to
show that any detriment you may experience has occurred.
Making an anonymous disclosure may also make it harder
for us to conduct any potential investigations.
Data retention
Our retention policy means that we will keep your information for
up to 10 years. If you have not been in contact
with DfE for 5 years, we may
reach out to you asking if you would like your information
deleted or de-activated from our system.
If you choose to have your information de-activated, it means
your information will be retained on the data system but not
visible by everyday users.
There are circumstances where we may need to keep your information
indefinitely for research and statistical purposes. There are
measures to safeguard this information.
