The UK's Public Interest Disclosure Act provides a framework of legal protection for individuals who disclose information so as to expose malpractice and matters of similar concern. In the vernacular, it protects whistleblowers from victimisation and dismissal.

The Act received Royal Assent on 2 July 1998 and came into effect a year later in 1999; need for such protection became evident from enquiries into disasters and crimes such as the 1987 capsize of the Herald of Free Enterprise, the 1988 Clapham Junction rail crash, and the 1991 Bank of Credit and Commerce International scandal. In each, employees could have prevented the occurrence had they felt that they would have received any support in raising allegations.

The scope of the Act extends to the raising of "genuine concerns about crime, civil offences (including negligence, breach of contract, breach of administrative law), miscarriage of justice, danger to health and safety or the environment and the cover up of any of these" and extends to all employees in almost all professions; some, such as the army, are excluded.

Protection in the event of infractions by employers is available through the industrial tribunal system; remedies include unlimited financial compensation and orders requiring companies to retain the employee in his or her job.

External links

• Public Concern at Work - the leading UK authority on Public Disclosure
• Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 from Her Majesty's Stationery Office

United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1998