The FCA’s 2021 whistleblowing campaign – just how effective has it been?
What has happened?
In March 2021, the FCA launched a campaign called ‘In confidence, with confidence’, intended to encourage individuals working in financial services to whistleblow to the FCA on potential wrongdoing. The campaign also reminded firms’ employees of the related confidentiality processes in place.
What do you need to do?
The FCA published materials for firms to share with their employees and produced a digital toolkit for industry bodies, consumer groups, and whistleblowing groups to encourage individuals to have the confidence to step forward.
Whistleblowers that report to the FCA have a dedicated case manager and can meet with the FCA to discuss their concerns and receive optional regular updates throughout the investigation. Every report the FCA receives is reviewed and the FCA protects individual whistleblowers’ identities. The FCA has reported that it has been investing in increased resourcing to support whistleblower interaction, including increasing the headcount on its whistleblowing team. This specialist team is trained to debrief and interact directly with whistleblowers, as well as liaising with various departments across the organisation.
The FCA has introduced a mandatory e-learning module for all its staff, to help identify potential whistleblowers and ensure that any intelligence received by the FCA is dealt with correctly and that whistleblowers’ identities are protected. The FCA’s website has been updated to provide more comprehensive information for potential whistleblowers, including details of Protect, the whistleblowers’ charity, and its team has developed a confidential web form in order to increase the number of ways in which whistleblowers can make disclosures.
In 2016, the FCA introduced a requirement for certain firms to appoint a whistleblowers’ champion to make sure there is senior management oversight over the integrity, independence and effectiveness of the firm’s arrangements, including those arrangements designed to protect whistleblowers from victimisation, as well as overseeing the preparation of an annual report made to the firm’s governing body.
Over a year has passed since the campaign started, but the FCA whistleblowing data is not particularly encouraging, suggesting that the campaign has not yet resulted in an increase in whistleblowing reports.
The FCA’s whistleblowing data from Q4 2021 showed that 279 new reports were received in that quarter, roughly the same number as the previous quarter.
In its press release announcing the “In confidence, with confidence” campaign, the FCA stated that “every report the FCA receives is reviewed”, however, data from May 2022 shows that in fact the FCA fully assessed less than 25 percent of the reports it received in 2021. Also concerning is the fact that of the 25 percent that was properly reviewed, only seven resulted in “significant action”.
Whistleblowing is a topic that is attracting attention beyond the financial services industry; the whistleblowing bill, which was introduced to the House of Commons on April 26, 2022, seeks to establish an independent Office of the Whistleblower to tackle the many issues facing whistleblowers. If enacted, the bill would establish this Office to support and advise whistleblowers and to campaign for the reform of the 1998 Public Interest Disclosure Act (PIDA).
If the bill becomes law, it will mean that there will be support for whistleblowers before they blow the whistle, while employees and workers are currently only protected from victimisation once they have either suffered detriment or been dismissed. Other proposals for reform include the protection of a wider scope of persons, including those who support and facilitate whistleblowers, specialist tribunals to consider all forms of whistleblowing, and fines for perpetrators, as well as aggravated damages and compensation for successful whistleblowers
How can we help you?
If you’d like to know more about how we can help you with any aspect of your whistleblowing arrangements, or any other regulatory compliance issues, our expert team is here to help.
Contact us today on 0207 436 0630 – or email info@thistleinitiatives.co.uk.