What is Whistleblowing?
A whistle-blowing concern is not the same as a grievance, which is a personal complaint about an individual’s own employment situation.
A whistleblowing concern is where an individual raises information as a witness whereas a grievance is where the individual is a complainant.
Who is protected by Whistleblowing legislation?
The Employment Act 2006 extends the usual definition of 'worker' used elsewhere in the Act to include all of the following:
- Employees, that is, persons who have a contract of employment;
- Workers who work under some other contract for a party to the contract (not being clients or customers);
- Agency workers, that is persons supplied by an employment business to work for its client (including self-employed agency workers);
- Home workers, that is persons who do all or part of their work at home;
- NHS primary care providers (such as general practitioners, certain dentists, pharmacists and opticians);
- Trainees or persons with work experience. This covers persons who are undertaking work experience as part of a training course or who are training for employment except where the course is run by an educational establishment (which includes any university, college or school).
Whistleblowing – Who should I contact?
Individuals should initially raise concerns with their employer where an internal whistleblowing policy is in place. The GSC recommends that Operators have an internal whistleblowing policy or procedure in place, however, concerns may be raised directly with the GSC where individuals are unable to raise concerns with their employer or feel unsatisfied after disclosing to their employer.
What will happen?
The Isle of Man Employment Act (2006) protects workers from detriment for making or proposing to make a protected disclosure.
The basic requirements to be protected are as follows:
- The person making the disclosure must be a 'worker' (see Employment Act 1.1);
- The information revealed must be of the right type (a 'qualifying disclosure') (see 3.1); and
- It must be revealed to the right person, and in the right way (making it a 'protected disclosure') (see 4).
When a concern is raised to the GSC, you should try to include as much information as you can. The whistleblowing report will remain confidential, but you may be asked to meet to discuss the concern in person with a member of GSC staff. It is important that the information provided contains as much detail as possible to help the GSC understand how to progress with the disclosure. Your voice matters, and we’re here to listen. If you have concerns or important information to share, please feel assured that you can speak with us privately and safely.
What can be disclosed?
Certain kinds of disclosures qualify for protection ("qualifying disclosures"). Qualifying disclosures are disclosures of information which the worker reasonably believes tends to show 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 breach of a legal obligation;
- A miscarriage of justice;
- A danger to the health or safety of any individual;
- Damage to the environment; or
- Deliberate covering up of information tending to show any of the above five matters.
It should be noted that in making a disclosure the worker must have reasonable belief that the information disclosed tends to show one or more of the offences or breaches listed above ('a relevant failure'). The belief need not be correct - it might be discovered subsequently that the worker was in fact wrong - but the worker must show that he held the belief and that it was a reasonable belief in the circumstances at the time of disclosure.
Under the Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons) Order 2021 individuals can inform the GSC of serious concerns relating to financial crime or misconduct; material legislative or regulatory breaches; material risks to the sector; unethical behaviour; and/or the concealment of these matters.
How to contact the GSC with a Whistleblowing concern?
You can contact the Gambling Supervision Commission through any trusted contact.
Alternatively, you can email gscamlinspections@gov.im.
We’re committed to protecting your confidentiality and taking appropriate action – your voice matters.
Additional Links:
The Employment Act
Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons) Order 2021
Whistleblowing Guidance
Isle of Man Government Whistleblowing Policy
Protect, UK
Protect is a UK organisation that provides guidance and training to employers on whistleblowing and can advise persons who are unsure as to whether or how to raise a concern about workplace wrongdoing. (Whilst IOM legislation on protected disclosures is based on UK provisions it should be noted that the prescribed regulators in the IOM differ to those which are prescribed in the UK and there are other important differences between UK and IOM employment law).