Whistleblowing is where a person working with the Council reports certain types of wrongdoing, which is in the public's interest and affects others. The wrongdoing may have happened in the past, be happening now, or will happen in the future. People might also use the term 'raising concerns', 'tipping off', or 'speaking out', to refer to whistleblowing.
Our whistleblowing policy applies to everyone who works for or with the Council. As well as our employees, this includes:
- casual/supply workers
- agency workers
- our contractors (or anyone working for our contractors)
- volunteers, or
- anyone else working for or on behalf of the Council
Any whistleblowing concerns should be raised through the process described below.
Why is whistleblowing important?
We need people to identify risks or harm so that we can deal with them. Those who work for, or alongside, the Council are in the best position to identify possible wrongdoing.
It is essential that you report any concerns so that they can be investigated and, if necessary, action can be taken.
If you raise a whistleblowing concern, you are protected by law (Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998), provided you are acting on good faith. This makes sure you are not treated unfairly because you have raised a concern.
Examples of whistleblowing
Under the legislation, a whistleblowing concern must, in your reasonable belief, show at least one of six types of wrongdoing. These are:
- Criminal offence
- Breach of a legal obligation
- Miscarriage of justice
- Danger to health and safety
- Damage to the environment
- Deliberate cover-up of any of the above
Not all reports are covered by whistleblowing. However, it's important that you still raise your concerns through another process. These are:
- Business as usual
- identifying risk or harm in your everyday workplace and speaking up to get it dealt with, through your manager
- Grievances
- issues about how you feel you are being treated by your employer, manager, or other colleagues. In this case, you should follow the Grievance procedure, if you are a Fife Council employee.
- Complaints
- issues with a service you have or have not received, in terms of standard of service or lack of action. You should follow the Complaints procedure in this instance.
Reporting whistleblowing concerns
If you have any concerns that fall under whistleblowing, you should report via one of these methods:
- Email us at whistleblowing@fife.gov.uk. You can use a private or non-work email account if you wish.
- Send us a letter to Private and Confidential, Whistleblowing, c/o Pamela Redpath, Audit and Risk Management and Finance and Corporate Services, Fife Council, Fife House, North Street, Glenrothes, KY7 5LT
Child or adult protection issues
If your concern relates to risk of harm to an individual child or vulnerable adult, you must follow the child or adult protection processes in place. Please visit our Child Protection and Adult Protection pages for more information.
If there's an immediate risk of harm, you must call Police Scotland on 999 and speak to your line manager.
What happens next?
When your concern is received, we will:
- Acknowledge receipt of your concern within five working days.
- Where possible, inform you of the progress of any investigation and its outcome, where appropriate.
- Treat it seriously, listen to you, and, depending on the nature of the concern, handle it as openly and transparently as possible.
- Protect you from any form of harm or disadvantage because you have reported your concern in good faith.
Whistleblowing reports will be recorded and reviewed by the Service Manager of Audit and Risk Management Service, the Head of Human Resources, and the Head of Legal and Democratic Services, to determine the appropriate action to take.
You can report your concerns anonymously, and we will treat your concerns the same. It may, however, limit the scope of our investigation if you do not leave your name and contact details and you could risk losing the protection of your employment rights.
We will respect your right to confidentiality, as far as reasonably possible, to protect your identity. There may be some instances, however, where we need to share your information. This may be if we need to refer the issue to an external agency, or if you need to make a statement. We will limit the information we share and will always tell you if we are going to do so.
Reporting whistleblowing concerns externally
We would always encourage you to report your concerns to the Council in the first instance. There are, however, external bodies that can deal with whistleblowing concerns, and they are known as 'prescribed persons'.
Here are the main prescribed persons in Scotland:
- Audit Scotland - contact them about the proper conduct of public business in Scotland, including value for money, fraud, and corruption in public bodies.
- Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland - contact them about matters relating to promoting and safeguarding the rights of children and young people in Scotland.
- The Scottish Information Commissioner - contact them about compliance with the requirement of legislation relating to freedom of information in Scotland.
- Care Inspectorate for Scotland - contact them about matters relating to the provision of health and social care.
- The Health and Safety Executive - contact them about the health and safety of individuals at work or the health and safety of the public , out of or in connection with the activities of persons at work.
- The Commission for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland - contact them where you think a local authority councillor has acted in a way that breaches the applicable code of conduct.
- AZETS - to contact the external auditors of Fife Council
- Scottish Public Services Ombudsman - contact them about whistleblowing disclosures and how they are handled in the NHS in Scotland.
- Scottish Housing Regulator - Contact them about social landlords’ performance of housing activities, and the registration of registered social landlords, their financial well-being, and standards of governance.