UK whistleblowers 2002

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This year we’ve seen some of the cases we’ve been supporting for several years at last making an impact through the Employment Tribunal and Appeals systems.

Collette Homer from Wrexham received a pension settlement and was reinstated after being sacked by Wrexham County Borough Council for “insubordination”. A threatened libel action by Wrexham against Collette and Freedom to Care fizzled out after a firm response in writing by Robert McGregor, our Company Secretary.

Andy Taylor has at last got the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs making tentative approaches to settle with him and has engaged the interest of Lord Livesey, our new patron, into what has been going on in DEFRA.

Bunny Pinnington, after six years of defeats in her struggle to get the system to recognise her unfair dismissal for refusing to delay the resuscitation of a child, has now had her right to appeal recognised.

Christina Gascombe was supported by Freedom to Care to a partial victory in the Employment Appeal Tribunal.

Pat Conneely has at last been offered a pension settlement and is now seeking to negotiate for the legal costs which she has incurred in her long battle with Coventry to recognise her whistleblowing on the likely grooming of children by a volunteer, who was also a police officer.

Andy Sutton, the former Chief Auditor of Flintshire County Council, has won his case at the Employment Tribunal and defeated the Council in their appeal; however, the Council is still looking for further routes of appeal, using public money of course, while Andy has laid out over £100,000 so far from his own and his family’s resources.

After many delays, a whistleblower supported by Freedom to Care, who has been seeking a hearing for the evidence he has on the abuse of young people by professionals in Cardiff and South Wales, has been asked to make a statement to the Commissioner for Children’s Office in connection with their promised investigation.

The Employment Tribunal system may be getting more responsive but, sadly, what all the cases referred to in this update have in common is that ethical employees have lost their jobs - whatever recompense they may now be getting - and the bullying and malpractising organisations they worked for have succeeded in getting rid of them.

We have also given advice to a number of other people who have come to us - for example, a nurse in Manchester who criticised standards of care in her Trust and was then threatened with unjustifiable redundancy. Following our advice, she was reinstated in another part of the Trust. A librarian in mid Wales was offered the support of a Freedom to Care advocate to accompany her to a meeting with management after she criticised bullying by managers – finally, on our advice, she demanded, and was allocated, a different union representative to replace the unsatisfactory one who had acted for her before.

Also, we would like to note the role played by Freedom to Care member Liz Davies in ensuring that the appointment of Margaret Hodge as Minister for Children should include public scrutiny in the press of her past leadership of Islington: during her period in office, whistleblowing regarding the abuse of children in Islington’s children’s homes was suppressed. Perhaps one day the public will be told by whom and why. Perhaps not. We shall have to wait and see.

BUNNY PINNINGTON, the school nurse in South Wales who in 1997 was told to delay the resuscitation of a child in her care with serious disabilities, and was harassed out of her job when she refused the instruction, has at last been given the date for a five-day Employment Tribunal Hearing in July. Bunny and her husband have battled on for this, with FtC's support, despite the fact that her union the RCN have ceased to support her.

“S” is a child protection social worker in East Anglia who protested when a child was placed with a foster carer under investigation for abuse. She was driven from her job, went to Employment Tribunal and won a large out of court settlement from her ex-employers, who then immediately sent her name to the DoH List of people unsafe to work with children. This effectively blocked any chance of employment for her. The authority also maliciously informed the Council where she lives with her son that she was listed and had a child living with her - implying that there should be a Child Protection investigation of “S” herself! With FtC support, she appealed to the DoH and now, after 15 months she has been taken off the DoH List and has a job working with children in another authority.

“A” is an Information Technology specialist with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries & Food (now Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs - DEFRA). He was involved in setting up new information systems to trace animals prior to last year's Foot & Mouth Disease outbreak. The section he worked in was, he says, dysfunctional with a bullying culture and “A”, a contract worker, was driven out. With FtC support he has pursued legal advice, has outstanding litigation against his former employers and last week succeeded in getting a question asked in the House of Commons about post traumatic stress in DEFRA.

“P” is a residential childcare worker in the Midlands who blew the whistle over an inappropriate relationship between a volunteer and one of the girls in care. “P” was suspended when counter allegations were made against her - which have now been dropped. FtC had to contact the Council's Child Protection Coordinator when serious concerns about sexual health problems were brought to our notice. “P” is now back at work, but has lost a large amount of pay that she is still pursuing from the Council. As a result, her Managers have been told to have no meetings with her - and she has even been unable to meet them to discuss issues about the children she is now working with!

“W” blew the whistle on child abusers. Following the sacking of Charles Faber, a senior officer in a South Wales authority who was sacked for filming evidence that children were being abused by paedophiles, “W” came forward with evidence of a network of abusers in the professional, business and political elite of South Wales. The Police are taking his statements seriously and FtC supported him in a meeting with the Welsh Commissioner for Children; FtC has found both the Police Sex Offenders’ Unit and the Commissioner very supportive of our advocacy for “W”. One of the key subjects of the allegations has now been suspended.

“C” was a Social Services Manager in a North Wales authority, and was sacked for "insubordination" to a Senior Manager, who had a history of mental illness. Finally, she has been reinstated, but is expected to work to the same line manager. She is seeking a solution, but the Authority will not allow her to retire with the stress they have caused her. She is appealing and requesting the opinion of an independent occupational health physician.

FtC was contacted by a construction engineer “X” who was being pressured by a manager to ‘sign off’ a new building as safe when it was known that the building had not met requirements. There was financial pressure to open the building. “X” refused to sign it off but felt bullied by the manager who was trying to turn other staff against him. He was also afraid of losing his job and said he had children to support. “X” was advised to stay calm, not to fall out with the manager, but to argue his case solely on the basis of the welfare of the future users of the building and with full knowledge of the regulations and with support from his professional body. He was also advised to consult the Health & Safety Executive.

FtC has been supporting “V”, a Mental Health Services Manager in London. She was recruited to sort out the problems in a residential unit where there had been a history of staff bullying and conflict. When she began to be subjected to bullying and a refusal to follow her instructions, her own Senior Managers would not support her when asked. “V” herself became ill and was hospitalised. Her parents heard of FtC through local press coverage of our Midlands work and we have been supporting her and her family since.