3. The Protected Disclosures Act 2014
Last updated: Sun, Sep 18th, 2016 8:15:59 pm
The Protected Disclosures Act 2014 became law on 15 July 2014 and places a requirement on every public body (which includes schools) to establish and maintain procedures for the making of protected disclosures by workers who are, or were employed, by the public body and for dealing with such disclosures.
The purpose of this Act is to protect workers from being penalised for whistleblowing about wrongdoing or potential wrongdoing that has come to their attention in the workplace.
Key provisions in the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 include:
A prohibition on penalising workers who make protected disclosures with a wide definition of ‘worker’.
A broad range of ‘relevant wrongdoings’ which can be reported including criminal offences, breaches of legal obligations, where the health and safety of any individual has been or is likely to be endangered, miscarriage of justice, unlawful or improper use of public funds or any attempt to conceal information in relation to such wrongdoings.
A ‘stepped disclosure system’ which encourages workers to report to employers in the first instance.
Each school is required to have appropriate arrangements in place to receive such disclosures from its workers. It is recommended that all employers i.e. Boards of Management put a Protected Disclosure Policy in place in addition to establishing the required procedures.
Please see the Template Protected Disclosures Policy developed by ACCS with accompanying Notification Form for a Protected Disclosure at Template Protected Disclosures Policy and Protected Disclosures Notification Form .