Updated July 2025
Approved by Board 29 July 2026
Renewal July 2027

Statement of Intent

OSE’s Whistleblowing procedure is designed to be used should you have any concerns about a  possible fraud, danger or other unlawful or unethical conduct that affects others or the organisation. The procedure outlined in this policy is available to all staff and OSE Learners (Associates, Despacito Art School) who discover something they feel they should pass on. 

All types of wrongdoing are included, whether they are acts committed by employees or staff, or faults in the organisation’s procedures or oversights, which should be corrected. The procedure should be used even in the event that the act or omission causing you concern has finished or has not yet started. 

Employment legislation and this policy protect employees who blow the whistle on bad practice from being subjected to any detriment or from being unfairly dismissed as a result, provided the disclosure was made “in the public  interest”. 

What is whistleblowing? 

Whistleblowing is the term used when a person passes on information concerning wrongdoing. In this guidance, we call that “making a disclosure” or “blowing the whistle”. The wrongdoing will typically (although not necessarily) be something they have witnessed at work. To be covered by whistleblowing law, a person who makes a disclosure must reasonably believe two things:

1. They are acting in the public interest. This means in particular that personal grievances and complaints are not usually covered by whistleblowing law. If your concern relates to something to do with your own personal circumstances in the workplace, then you should use the Grievance Procedure. Please see the Government’s guidance for whistleblowers to verify the position that a personal grievance is not generally regarded as a protected disclosure. Workers can also contact the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) for guidance on whistleblowing and grievances. Useful information can be found at: www.acas.org.uk/grievances

2. A person must reasonably believe is that the disclosure tends to show past, present or likely future wrongdoing falling into one or more of the following categories: 

• criminal offences (this may include, for example, types of financial impropriety such as fraud) 
• failure to comply with an obligation set out in law 
• miscarriages of justice 
• endangering of someone’s health and safety 
• damage to the environment 
• covering up wrongdoing in the above categories 

Whistleblowing law is located in the Employment Rights Act 1996 (as amended by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998). It provides the right for a worker to take a case to an employment tribunal if they have been victimised at work or they have lost their job because they have ‘blown the whistle’.

Deciding how to deal with the whistleblowing disclosure 

Where a person feels able to do so they may make a disclosure to an OSE Director who will be able to decide whether they can take forward the disclosure or whether it will require escalation to the Board of Trustees. The organisation will need to equip Directors with the knowledge and confidence to make these judgements. 

Dealing with disclosures 

Once a disclosure has been made it is good practice to hold a meeting with the whistleblower to gather all the information needed to understand the situation. In some cases a suitable conclusion may be reached through an initial conversation with a Director. In more serious cases there may be a need for a formal investigation. It is for the organisation to decide what the most appropriate action to take is. It is important to note that if an investigation concludes that the disclosure was untrue it does not automatically mean that it was raised maliciously. When dealing with disclosures, it is good practice for Directors to: 

• Have a facility for anonymous reporting 
• Treat all disclosures made seriously and consistently 
• Provide support to the person during what can be a difficult or anxious time with access to mentoring, advice and counselling 
• Reassure the whistleblower that their disclosure will not affect their position at work (if an employee)
• Document whether the whistleblower has requested confidentiality 
• Manage the expectations of the whistleblower in terms of what action and/or feedback they can expect as well clear timescales for providing updates 
• Produce a summary of the meeting for record keeping purposes and provide a copy to the whistleblower 
• Allow the person to be accompanied by a trade union representative or colleague at any meeting about the disclosure, if they wish to do so 
• Provide support services after a disclosure has been made such as mediation and dispute resolution, to help rebuild trust and relationships in the workplace. It will be useful to document any decisions or action taken following the making of a disclosure by a worker. 

What happens when a worker blows the whistle to someone other than their employer?

Ideally workers will feel able to make a disclosure to their organisation. Good policies and procedures for handling whistleblowing will help encourage this. However, there may be circumstances where they feel unable to. There are other ways, some of which are set out in law, that a worker may make a disclosure without losing their rights under whistleblowing law. One option for external disclosures of this type is prescribed persons. Prescribed persons are mainly regulators and professional bodies but include other persons and bodies such as MPs (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/blowing-the-whistle-list-of-prescribed-peopleand-bodies–2). Prescribed persons have individual policies and procedures for handling concerns and complaints. Generally these will be accessible on their websites. 

What happens if a whistleblower believes they have been unfairly treated? 

If a whistleblower believes that they have been unfairly treated because they have blown the whistle they may decide to take their case to an employment tribunal. The process for this would involve attempted resolution through the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) early conciliation service. 

Confidentiality 

There may be good reasons why a worker wishes their identity to remain confidential. The law does not compel an organisation to protect the confidentiality of a whistleblower. However, it is considered best practice to maintain that confidentiality, unless required by law to disclose it. Directors dealing with whistleblowing concerns should be briefed to ensure they understand how to handle the disclosure and protect personal information. It will help to manage the expectations of whistleblowers if the risk that some colleagues may still speculate about who has raised the concern is explained to them. Anonymous information will be just as important for organisations to act upon. Workers should be made aware that the ability of an organisation to ask follow up questions or provide feedback will be limited if the whistleblower cannot be contacted. It may be possible to overcome these challenges by using telephone appointments or through an anonymised email address. Workers should be made aware that making a disclosure anonymously means it can be more difficult for them to qualify for protections as a whistleblower. This is because there would be no documentary evidence linking the worker to the disclosure for the employment tribunal to consider. 

Whistleblowing and Complaints procedure

Any complaints regarding this policy should be sent to the Designated Safeguarding lead, Fiona Kingsman (fiona@openschooleast.org) in the first instance, who will forward it to the board of trustees’.