Fewer investigations of protected disclosures are leading to the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) intervening to prevent harm, according to the regulator’s own data, prompting one expert to express concern over the robustness of the regulator’s examinations.
Read the full article for more analysis by Lindsey Rogerson in Compliance Corylated.
In the article in response to this news Francesca West, managing partner at James & West and a former chief executive of Protect, a charity that supports individuals making protected disclosures, says:
“The anxiety would be that if they are closing more investigations but taking less action, do we have the quality assurance that cases are being pursued as thoroughly as they can be?
“When I worked at Protect, you could pretty much guarantee someone would have raised their concern internally before they ever thought about going anywhere else. Only the brave few went direct to the regulator. But generally, I would still say most individuals want to keep it internal. Obviously, if they are SMFs one or two and they’ve got controlled functions, they know that they are in a very different position. I think that’s enabling in some ways, and they will go direct to the regulator.
“The reality for our clients is they’ve got to be savvy from the beginning to understand where their options are before they rock the boat in a way that’s going to leave them out in the cold”.
If you would like advice in blowing the whistle, or have done so and are now facing detriments for making protected disclosures, please contact the Whistleblowing Experts at James & West Law today.