Just over a week ago, we received the incredibly sad news that a whistleblower, Simon Andriesz, who we had been in contact with over many years, had died. We’ve shared our condolences, and our thoughts are with his family and loved ones.
We’re often in contact with people in challenging circumstances.
They may be sharing information about a firm we regulate that they’re concerned about, or in the middle of a dispute affecting their financial security.
The personal stress of those situations, and dealing with an official body like us, can be – and for many, is – significant.
I know the many colleagues who are in contact with whistleblowers and vulnerable individuals always aim to treat them as the people they are – with empathy and professionalism, not simply cases to be managed.
That’s vital if people are to feel confident coming to us with their concerns. We’re grateful so many do, with the number of whistleblowing reports increasing 22% last year.
To build greater confidence, we’re sharing more information with whistleblowers about the action we take. We provided feedback on each of the 1,252 whistleblowing reports we closed last year. Overall, 42% of these led to direct action to manage or reduce harm. A further 53% informed our wider work and supported harm prevention.
We know, though, frustrations remain. Legal restrictions can mean we’re not able to share as much as people understandably want, and sometimes the actions we take don’t meet people’s expectations.
None of this means that there aren’t things we could improve.
We’ve asked Lea Paterson, who has just joined our Board as an independent non-executive director, to review how we interacted with Mr Andriesz. Lea will look at whether there are things we could have done better, and she’ll help us learn for the future.
We must be open and consider if there are ways in which we can improve, especially in how we interact with people who may be particularly vulnerable. I’m grateful to Lea for taking on this important work. We plan to share any lessons she thinks we should learn from, and how we’ll take them forward, early next year.
