Whistleblowing: UK employment law

Essential points

• Whistleblowing is a worker raising a concern about wrongdoing when they have a reasonable belief that raising the concern is in the public interest. The protections are day-one rights as no qualifying period is required.
• To support businesses, workers and employees, people professionals must understand the law on whistleblowing so they can share relevant information when asked. The following page is broken into sections for your use; including the changes to whistleblowing that took effect on 6 April 2026 under the Employment Rights Act 2025.
• A whistleblower is protected in law if they reasonably believe that the wrongdoing they disclose is in the public interest – this depends on the Chesterton test.  
• To be protected, the whistleblower must be an employee, a worker, a freelancer, a trainee, an agency worker, a person undergoing training as part of a training course, certain self-employed medical practitioners in the NHS, student nurses and midwives, applicants for certain NHS roles, a police officer  or a member of a Limited Liability Partnership. Certain individuals, including the genuinely self-employed, trustees and volunteers, are not covered. 
• Reporting a criminal offence, a health and safety risk, a risk to the environment, a miscarriage of justice, a company breaking the law, or covering up wrongdoing all count as whistleblowing, but purely personal grievances do not. 
• Whistleblowers making a disclosure that qualifies for protection can bring a tribunal claim if they are treated unfairly or lose their job for doing so. They can either bring an unlawful detriment or an unfair dismissal claim.