Fear over Telford council whistleblowing 'should not discourage reports'
Fears of being branded “malicious or vexatious” should not put Telford council staff or volunteers off blowing the whistle to report wrongdoing, a senior councillor has said.
Telford & Wrekin’s audit committee has approved a revised “Speak Up Policy” which will be put forward to all 54 councillors for adoption.
Vice chairman Charles Smith pointed out that untrue allegations, if found to be made in bad faith, could be treated as “gross misconduct”.
Chief internal auditor Rob Montgomery said there is currently no specific test for malicious or vexatious complaints, but other departments had experience of making judgements on such issues, so their rules could be co-opted.
In a report for the committee, audit and governance officer Andrew Hollis noted that the Speak Up Policy has not been updated for seven years.
Mr Montgomery said the 2019 version gave more channels for people to make referrals, including confidentially online.
Councillor Smith pointed out that a section, titled Safeguards, contained a clause which read: “If, as an employee or volunteer, you make malicious or vexatious allegations, action, including disciplinary action, may be taken against you.”
A footnote adds that “a finding of gross misconduct may be deemed appropriate” in some of those cases.
Councillor Smith said: “Who is going to decide if it’s malicious or vexatious?
Tested
"Gross misconduct is a serious offence.
"I wouldn’t want that footnote to stop people from honestly reporting something.”
Mr Montgomery said: “That is a good question. That process hasn’t been tested.
“There are a number of precedents in the council. For example, our customer relations team have a process for identifying vexatious customers.
“The freedom of information team have a process as well, so we will ‘grab’ bits of best practice.”
Councillor Bill Tomlinson said: “It sounds awful to say, but it would be useful if we had a practical test of the whistleblowing policy.
“Has anyone actually come forward? Can you tell whether your policy is working?”
Mr Montgomery admitted they “don’t have an awful lot of referrals coming forward”, and one of the reasons for increasing the number of reporting methods was to try to ensure they weren’t inhibiting them.
But he added that the low number of referrals might instead be a sign of a strong audit process and honest culture.
“We’re getting fewer red audit reports and fewer amber ones,” he said.
“Our hope is that the governance team are succeeding and controls are working.”
After a further question from Councillor Adrian Lawrence, Mr Montgomery said there have been no whistleblowing cases this year and only one last year, which was later reclassified as an “HR Code of Conduct matter”.
