By Charlie Conchie
TheFinancial Conduct Authority (FCA) has defended its conduct towards whistleblowers today after officials wrongly dismissed a plea for protection and apologised for misinterpreting laws.
City A.M. reported yesterday that the watchdog apologised to a whistleblower this week and admitted it had wrongly batted away their complaint partially on the grounds the person had waived their right to anonymity – a decision which has no basis in law.
Speaking with reporters today, the FCA repeated its apology.
“I do want to take this opportunity to sincerely apologise for the distress we caused that individual as a result of our mistake,” Sheree Howard, the watchdog’s executive director of risk and compliance, said.
An official dismissed the whistleblower’s calls for help in March on the grounds that the complainant was “no longer entitled to the protections offered under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998” – the laws governing whistleblowing – because they had waived their anonymity.
Speaking with City A.M. on condition of anonymity, the whistleblower said they had been treated with “contempt” by the FCA and left exposed to retaliation by their former employer that they blew the whistle on.
Following this news, campaign group Whistleblowers UK accused the FCA of creating a “dangerous” environment for those who wanted to report wrongdoing in the City.
When questioned by City A.M. today on whether the watchdog had failed to adequately protect whistleblowers, the FCA’s co-head of enforcement and market oversight Steve Smart said he was “always happy to look at our approach on whistleblowing”.
“We are see[ing] if we can develop and strengthen the protections,” he said. “I do come back to that I think from a FCA perspective, we do have some good protections in place to protect the the confidentiality and the anonymity of the whistleblower.”
Earlier this year, the government committed to a review of the protections afforded to whistleblowers in the UK. The review will “take stock of whether the whistleblowing framework is operating effectively and protects those who call out wrongdoing in the workplace,” Business minister Kevin Hollinrake said at the time.
