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Whistleblowing policy

Calderdale Council on 26th April 2006 approved a Whistleblowing Policy for its employees. The Council is committed to the highest possible standards of openness, probity and accountability and encourages employees with certain concerns about any aspect of the Council's work to come forward and voice those concerns. The policy protects workers in line with the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, from reprisals or victimisation where the disclosure is made in good faith and relates to a concern set out in the policy.

The policy should be read in conjunction with several other complimentary policies/documents, i.e. The Council's Anti-Fraud and Corruption Strategy, and The Code of Conduct for Council Employees as well as The Council's Fraud and Dishonesty Leaflet, and Children and Young People and Vulnerable Adults Safeguarding Procedures (if you want copies of these please contact The Contact Centre (Tel: 0845 245 6000) who will provide you with these documents).

This policy benefits the public in Calderdale by encouraging its employees to raise concerns with the Council. It reassures the employees that they will be protected from reprisals or victimisation for whistleblowing in accordance with the 1998 Act where the disclosure is made to the Council in good faith and relates to a relevant concern. This is important because the Council wants to ensure the wellbeing of all its service users and employees, and if there is something which is going on which is a criminal offence and relates to the following then the Council needs to know about it, particularly when any of the following may be occurring :

• Failure to comply with a legal obligation;
• Failure to safeguard a child or vulnerable person;
• A miscarriage of justice;
• Endangering the health and safety of another;
• Damage to the environment; or
• There is or is likely to be concealment of any of the above matters.

The Policy is a public document and available to download -

Whistleblowing policy [PDF file 66KB]|

Please send any comments you may have on this policy to Bernadette Livesey, Chief Law and Administration Officer at bernadette.livesey@calderdale.gov.uk.

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