More of council’s whistleblowing and fraud reports could be made public – with review already underway

Islington Town Hall. Photograph: Islington Citizen

A review is underway into the way whistleblowing concerns from council employees are made public.

Currently Islington Council discusses these concerns behind closed doors, but this week it revealed how many allegations were made in the six months to January.

Town Hall bosses said most of the twice-yearly report is kept confidential because there could be “information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual”.

Any of the council’s 5,500 employees, contractors, partner agencies such as the Health Authority and voluntary sector groups, casual and agency workers, consultants, trainees and self-employed people working for the council can blow the whistle about any concerns.

Following a request by the Citizen, the council’s acting head of monitoring, Marie Rosenthal, said it will look into the amount of information about whistleblowing and fraud reports it makes public.

Other London councils, including Hackney, publish detailed whistleblowing and fraud reports.

Nasreen Khan, Islington’s head of internal audit, investigations and risk management, revealed in the public part of the audit committee’s discussion that there were five whistleblowing referrals between August 2022 and 31 January this year.

Two investigations are ongoing, she said. No allegations have been substantiated.

Between February and July 2022, the council looked at five allegations, none of which related to schools. They also looked at one from the previous year.

One investigation closed due to a lack of evidence, according to the Town Hall.

The details came in advance of the press and public being asked to leave the meeting, after which the committee, made up of four councillors and two lay members, discussed details of the exempt report.

The council saw a peak of 18 whistleblowing disclosures in 2016/17.

Khan told the public part of the meeting that it is “helpful to compare with other councils” and most have around five to ten allegations from year to year.

She said at one time the whistleblowing policy was “too broad – we were covering things beyond the statutory requirements”.

The policy is designed to encourage people working for the council to report “inappropriate action” by fellow workers, councillors or contractors “which would not normally be revealed due to fears of victimisation or retribution”.

It “reassures employees that they will be protected from reprisals or victimisation for making reports of malpractice, in the public interest, which they reasonably believe to be true,” according to a council report.