The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (commonly know as the Whistleblowing Act or "PIDA") received Royal Assent on 2nd July 1998 and came into force exactly a year later on 2nd July 1999 (Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (Commencement) Order 1999, SI 1999/1547). PIDA 1998 inserted eleven new sections, ss. 43A to 43L, into Employment Rights Act 1996 (see above) and makes other amendments. A twelfth new subsection (43KA) for benefit of police officers was added later by Police Reform Act 2002 s.37.

Previous attempts in 1995 and 1996 to get Public Interest Disclosure Bills (popularly called "Whistle-blower Bills") through Parliament failed - see notes at VICTIMISATION . The successful 1997 attempt which became the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 started as a Private Members Bill introduced in the House of Commons on 18th June 1997 by Richard Shepherd MP, sponsored by the "Public Concern at Work" action group (see Addresses, tel & fax nos ).

Employment Rights Act 1996 ss. 43A to 43L give legal protection to any worker against dismissal or other penalty as a result of his disclosing information relating to crimes, breaches of a legal obligation, miscarriages of justice, dangers to health and safety or the environment and to the concealing of evidence relating to any of these. Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 s.5 provided a new ERA 1996 s.103A, making it automatically unfair dismissal if an employee is dismissed for making a protected disclosure (see notes at Unfair dismissal/automatically unfair dismissals ).

There is no requirement for a worker to complete any particular period of employment in order to qualify for protection (see ERA 1996 s.108(3)(ff)). However the worker must act in good faith and must have reasonable grounds for believing that the information disclosed indicates the existence of one of the above problems (see eg ERA 1996 s.43G(1)).

There is no cap on the compensatory award which can be awarded under the Act to an employee dismissed for "blowing the whistle". In a well publicised case in 1999/2000 a 59 year old accountant, Tony Fernandes, who had been dismissed by his employer, Netcom Consultants, for "blowing the whistle" against his Managing Director was awarded £293,441 by the Reading Employment Tribunal (see notes at Whistleblowing/interim relief ), almost six times the maximum which the tribunal would have had power to award if his claim had been made under the normal unfair dismissal provisions.

In November 2000 the European Commission announced that it was setting up its own internal Whistleblowing arrangements, details of which may be of interest to anyone involved in general whistleblowing cases (see 2000/11/29 - EC Press Notice DN: IP/00/1380 re internal whistleblowing).

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has shown particular concern to encourage "whistleblowing" where appropriate in the financial services industry. The Financial Services Authority Code on Corporate Governance, Nov 2003 applies to listed companies in respect of reporting years beginning on or after 1st November 2003 and includes a whistleblowing protection clause.

Members of the Armed Forces and persons who normally work outside the UK are currently excluded from "whistleblowing" protection. Police Officers were previously excluded but have been protected from 1st April 2004 (see notes at Specific employments/policemen and special constables/general ).

There is a useful guide to relevant law on the DTI whistleblowing website. Also worth noting is a Fraud Hotline web-site set up by a team of accountants with expertise in fraud investigations. The idea is to provide a safe anonymous means for employees to bring their knowledge or suspicions of fraud and malpractice to senior management's attention without having to get personally involved.

Quite apart from the whistle-blowing provisions introduced by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, employees are under an obligation to inform their employers of any work situation which is a serious and immediate danger to health and safety or which represents "a shortcoming in the employer's protection arrangements for health and safety" (Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, SI 1999/3242 reg 14(2) - and see notes at Unfair dismissal/automatically unfair dismissals/health & safety and/or at Health and Safety at work/civil liability ).

For general notes on anonymous evidence given by employees in unfair dismissal cases go to Unfair dismissal/anonymous information and for notes on "pension fund" whistleblowing by auditors and actuaries, see Pensions/whistleblowing . See also notes at Victimisation and/or ACTS OF PARLIAMENT etc/Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 .