FCA Employee Handbook - Financial Conduct Authority

16. WhistleblowingWhistleblowing PolicyBackgroundWhistleblowing can occur when an employee raises a genuine concern about dangerous,unlawful or illegal activity that they are aware of through their work.Whistleblowing is relevant to all organisations and all people. This is because every businessand every public body faces the risk of things going wrong internally. Where such a risk arises,usually the first people to realise or suspect the wrongdoing will be those who work in or withthe organisation.We have a positive commitment and open approach to whistleblowing. Our policy andprocedure is intended to be in line with the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA). Thisprovides protection for whistleblowing on wrongdoing. Our policy encourages you to raiseconcerns with us in the first instance.Everyone at some point in their career may be concerned about issues they see or hear duringthe course of their work. Usually these concerns are easily resolved and we have a number ofother Employee Handbook procedures to deal with them. However, those procedures may notappear to be appropriate where:there is no other relevant procedure; oryou have genuine concerns about using a particular procedure at either the outset or theend of the process; andyour concern is about conduct likely to harm the reputation of the FCA.It can be difficult to know what to do. You may be worried about raising such issues or maywant to keep the concerns to yourself, perhaps feeling it is not any of your business or that itis only a suspicion. You may feel that raising the matter would be disloyal to colleagues,managers or to the FCA.However, we have introduced this policy to enable employees to raise genuine concerns aboutsuch matters at an early stage and in the right way. We would rather you raised the matterwhen it is a real concern, rather than wait for proof.This policy and procedure does not form part of your Contract of Employment.What does this policy cover?Who and what is covered by our Whistleblowing Policy;Which procedure to use;Anonymous disclosures;Other wrongdoing;Independent advice;How to raise a concern;What happens during an investigation;FCA Employee Handbook 2013 231