Making a disclosure

What types of wrongdoing can be disclosed?

Only certain types of disclosures qualify for protection.

It must involve the disclosure of information that shows one or more of the following matters is either happening now, took place in the past, or is likely to happen in the future:

• A criminal offence
• The failure to comply with a legal obligation
• A miscarriage of justice
• A danger to the health or safety of any individual
• A danger to the environment
• Deliberate covering up of information tending to show any of the above five matters

This applies even if the disclosure concerns a matter that took place overseas and would not be unlawful in that country.

Note: From April 2026 in England, Wales and Scotland, reporting of any incident involving sexual harassment will also be protected. See our section on the Employment Rights Act 2025 for more information.

What makes a disclosure protected?

In Northern Ireland, disclosures must be made in good faith.

In England, Wales and Scotland, the protected disclosures made must be in the public interest, but does not need to be made in good faith. An Employment Tribunal can reduce an award for damages by up to 25% if it was made in bad faith. A worker will be acting in bad faith if, for example, they made a disclosure because they have a grudge against their employer.

For a disclosure to be protected, a worker must:

• Have a reasonable belief that the information they disclose is about a failure that's related to one or more of the situations listed above.
• Make the disclosure in an acceptable manner.

Reasonable belief

Their belief doesn't need to be correct - it might be subsequently discovered that the worker was in fact wrong. But if they can show they reasonably believed the circumstances existed at the time of disclosure, it will be protected.

How a disclosure should be made

To be a protected disclosure, the disclosure must be made in an acceptable manner. This means they should try to resolve the matter by disclosing it to either:

• Their employer - either directly to them or by methods authorised by the employer for that purpose.
• To another appropriate person.

Disclosure to an employer

In most cases, doing this will ensure that concerns are dealt with quickly and by a person who is well placed to resolve the issue. In smaller businesses, this may be the owner themself.

Having a policy that sets out a procedure is important as it will likely result in disclosures first being made to the employer rather than to someone external, which could be damaging to the business. The policy should be easy to access and be communicated to staff, so that they are aware of what to do.

Disclosure to an appropriate person

Workers who are concerned about wrongdoing or failures can, instead of making a disclosure to their employer, make it to certain people who are authorised by the government to receive disclosures.

A list of such people and their contact details (for England, Wales and Scotland) can be found here.

A disclosure can also be made to a legal adviser as part of getting legal advice, or to an MP (or MSP).

A disclosure made to authorised people will be protected if the worker:

• Reasonably believes that the information, and any allegations it contains, are substantially true
• Reasonably believes that the disclosure falls within the remit of the authorised person (E.g. breaches of health and safety regulations can be disclosed to the Health and Safety Executive or appropriate local authority)

Disclosure to the public

A worker can make a protected disclosure to the public (or to any other body) if, at the time, they:

• Reasonably believed that they would be subjected to a detriment by their employer if the disclosure were to be made to them or an authorised person
• Reasonably believed that (in the absence of an appropriate authorised person), making a disclosure to the employer would result in the employer destroying the information or unlawfully covering it up
• Had previously disclosed substantially the same information to the employer or to an authorised person.

However, the following additional conditions must be satisfied:

• The worker must reasonably believe that the information, and any allegations contained in their disclosure, are substantially true.
• The worker must not act for personal gain. This does not prevent a worker from receiving money for the information if the worker can show that the main motivation was to act in the public interest rather than out of self-interest.
• It was reasonable for the worker to make the disclosure in this way.

Deciding if a disclosure is protected

Ultimately, an Employment Tribunal will decide whether the worker acted reasonably in the circumstances. It will usually take the following into account:

• The identity of the person to whom the disclosure was made (e.g. it may be more likely to be considered reasonable to disclose to a professional body that has responsibility for standards and conduct in a particular field, rather than to the media)
• The seriousness of the wrongdoing and whether it is continuing or is likely to re-occur
• Whether the disclosure breaches the employer's duty of confidentiality to others (e.g. information that is made available by the worker may contain confidential details about a client)
• What should reasonably have been done in response to a disclosure made previously to the employer or an authorised person. In assessing this, they will consider whether the worker complied with any whistleblowing policy of the employer.

When a disclosure will not be protected

Protection does not extend to:

• A worker threatening to make a disclosure - they must actually make it.
• Disclosures made while also committing a criminal offence (e.g. if disclosure was prohibited under the Official Secrets Act).