Whistleblowing

Whistleblowing

At Caring Hands Nursery, we expect all our colleagues, both internal and external, to always be professional and hold the welfare and safety of every child as their paramount objective.

We recognise that there may be occasions where this may not happen and we have in place a procedure for staff to disclose any information that suggests children’s welfare and safety may be at risk. 

We expect all team members to talk through any concerns they may have with their Nursery Manager/Line Manager at the earliest opportunity to enable any problems to be resolved as soon as they arise.

Legal framework

The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, commonly referred to as the ‘Whistleblowing Act’, amended the Employment Rights Act 1996 to provide protection for employees who raise legitimate concerns about specified matters. These are called ‘qualifying disclosures. On 25 June 2013, there were some legal changes to what constitutes a qualifying disclosure.

A qualifying disclosure is one made in the public interest by an employee who has a reasonable belief that:

A criminal offence

A miscarriage of justice

An act creating risk to health and safety

An act causing damage to the environment

A breach of any other legal obligation or

Any other unethical conduct

The Public Interest Disclosure Act has the following rules for making a protected disclosure:

You must believe it to be substantially true

You must not act maliciously or make false allegations

You must not seek any personal gain.