Council staff and residents who spot wrongdoing by the local authority should be encouraged to speak up, and protected from reprisals if they do. 

Members of Swindon Borough Council’s standards committee have approved an update to the authority's whistleblowing policy at a meeting this week. 

The new policy says: “The policy is a vital element of our governance arrangements and is designed to allow those employed by the council and/or members of the public to come forward and raise both disclosures and serious allegations of wrongdoing involving the actions of the council’s employees, its Councillors, contractors or any aspect of the council’s activities.  

“We are committed to a policy which seeks to protect those individuals who make certain disclosures with regard to any instance of malpractice or wrongdoing and to investigate them in the public interest."

The policy states any employee with a concern about any aspect of the council’s operations or its conduct should feel able to first raise those concerns internally with line management or with one or more of the chief legal officer, the head of internal audit & corporate fraud, the chief officer of the relevant directorate, the corporate director of finance and assets or the chief executive. 

It adds that those who are not a council employee can still contact the council to report any concerns or disclosures over wrongdoing and these will be treated in the same way. 

One of the things that is necessary for whistleblowers to come forward when they see malpractice is a belief they won’t suffer reprisals. 

Whistleblowers’ names will be kept confidential by those investigating their claims and they will be able to have a union representative or a friend who is not involved in the issue attend any meeting that might be required. 

The policy says anonymous allegations can be harder to investigate but will still be taken as seriously: “There may be circumstances where individuals are worried about being identified when they report concerns about their employer. If you have come to us anonymously we will treat your allegations just as seriously.  

“However, we believe that open or confidential whistleblowing is the best means of addressing the concerns and protecting individuals. Concerns expressed anonymously are more difficult to investigate, and harder to substantiate. Nevertheless, anonymous allegations will always be individually considered.”