Whistleblowing law in the UK: potential reforms, and whether they would be given effect by the EU whistleblowing directive

Abstract

Whistleblowing has an important role to play in the functioning and evolution of democratic society.

This paper identifies objectives for whistleblowing law, which have the overarching objective of serving the public interest. It then sets out potential statutory reforms to UK whistleblowing law which accord with those objectives, and considers whether the EU Directive on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law, if incorporated into UK law, would give effect to those reforms. It serves to highlight the lacunae in UK whistleblowing law, and the options to reform the legislative framework in a manner which would achieve the aforementioned objectives.

Keywords: whistleblowing, whistleblower, whistleblowers, whistle-blowing, whistle-blower, whistle-blowers, public interest disclosure, protected disclosure, qualifying disclosure, disclosure, public interest disclosure act, PIDA, employment law, labour, labor, employment rights act

JEL Classification: K31, K40, K41, K42, D23, D63, D73, E00, E60, H00, I00, J81, J83, J88, Z10, Z18