Whistleblowing

What is PIDA?

PIDA is the legislation that protects paid workers from unfair dismissal or treatment from their employer if they report wrongdoing.

What does OSCR have to do with PIDA?

OSCR is a ‘prescribed person’ under PIDA. This means that it is allowed to accept disclosures from people who carry out paid work for a charity. This is because, in our role as regulator of all Scottish charities, we work to ensure that charity trustees comply with their legal duties in controlling and managing the administration of their charities. We consider it best practice for charities that employ people to have whistleblowing procedures in place, but paid workers can contact us if:

• There are not any whistleblowing procedures in the workplace
• If the paid worker is uncomfortable or not confident about using the procedures in the workplace
• If the paid worker has used the procedure, but is concerned about the response they have received or if they have not had a response at all.

Who is protected by PIDA?

It protects most workers in the public, private and voluntary sectors. It essentially covers employees, certain agency workers, certain independent contractors, home workers, trainees, or those gaining experience. It also includes medical and dental workers.

It does not apply to voluntary workers (charity trustees and charity volunteers). If you are a volunteer or charity trustee who has a concern about a charity, please see our Inquiry Policy.

What type of concern can I raise under PIDA?

A concern or ‘making a disclosure in the public interest’ raised under PIDA must relate to:

• A criminal offence has been, or is likely to be, committed
• The charity not obeying the law
• Someone’s health and safety is in danger
• Where there has been, or is likely to be, damage to the environment
• A miscarriage of justice – this means that an innocent person has been incorrectly convicted
• Where there is deliberate covering up of matters relating to one of the issues listed above.
• These are the only areas that qualify for protection under PIDA.
• You must have a reasonable belief that the information you are providing shows that one or more of the issues is happening, has happened, or is likely to happen in the future.

What qualifies as a ‘protected disclosure’?

To qualify for protection, the disclosure is subject to certain conditions. You would have to:

• Make the disclosure in the public interest
• Reasonably believe that the issues raised relate to a failure in the administration of the charity or a risk to/improper use of funds given or held for charitable purposes, and
• Reasonably believe that the information provided, and any allegations made in the disclosure, are substantially true.
• PIDA means that if you are dismissed because of whistleblowing on wrong doing it is automatically considered ‘unfair dismissal’. If you decide to pursue the matter further in an employment tribunal your claim of unfair dismissal is against your employer and not OSCR.

Where can I find out more about PIDA?

The GOV.UK website has useful information on whistleblowing.

Protect provide free confidential advice to workers who have concerns about wrong doing. You can contact their advice line on 020 3117 2520.They also have guidance available on their website.

ACAS also have useful information. You can contact them via their website or on 03001231100.

How do I make a disclosure under PIDA?

You can complete our online concern form.

How will OSCR deal with my disclosure?

We will process your disclosure in line with our Inquiry Policy. That is:

• You will receive an acknowledgement within 15 days of submitting your disclosure.
• We will decide if there are any regulatory matters for us to take forward.
• If we determine that there are regulatory matters, we will make further inquiries in line with our Inquiry Policy. We act in the interest of the public as a whole and not on behalf of individuals or groups. Therefore, following acknowledgement that we have received your concern under PIDA, we will usually only contact you if we require further information from you.
• We may determine that it is appropriate for another organisation to receive the information. This may include organisations that are listed as Prescribed Persons, but it may not. If we determine this, we may either encourage you to contact the organisation directly yourself or consider passing the information to the organisation directly. We do retain the discretion to pass any information disclosed on if we deem it necessary.
• We do not usually comment or give updates on inquiries while they are ongoing, as this could prejudice the charity or our work. Once we have completed our inquiries in some cases where we use our enforcement powers, or where in our view it is in the public interest, we will publish an inquiry report on our website explaining what has happened, any action we have taken and any learning points for the rest of the charitable sector.

Please note: the charity will not be told who has made the disclosure to us without your permission. However, there may be legal circumstances where we have to do so, for example if we are required to do so by a Court. Additionally, your identity may be obvious to the charity because of the type of issues that you have raised.