Coventry council worker 'moved' after whistleblower concerns

[dutchman]

It related to "fraud and corruption"



A Coventry council worker was moved to a different post after concerns were raised by a whistleblower last year. The concern was over "fraud and corruption" and related to the Streetscene and Regulatory service area.

Evidence was found to support the concern - it was "substantiated " - and the officer received a "final written warning" before the move. It was one of six whistleblowing alerts made to the council in 2022/23, said papers for the council's Audit Committee meeting yesterday (9 October.)

Three alerts were not substantiated after an initial investigation but sparked other action by managers such as updating council policy. The other two were made anonymously and didn't meet the criteria for whistleblowing so no further action was taken.

Details of the complaints were limited in the report, mainly because of the need to protect whistleblowers and any confidential investigations. "In order to protect the confidentiality of whistleblowers and other parties involved, no information is included in this report that could lead to the identification of a whistleblower or the subject of the whistleblowing or compromise the confidentiality of an on-going investigation," it said.

The council also said it couldn't comment on individual cases, in response to an enquiry by the Local Democracy Reporting Service. Whistleblowing happens when people raise concerns over actual or potential wrongdoing, when they believe it's in the public interest to do so.

These are known as "protected disclosures" and employees have legal protection for making them if they fall within six main categories. Two of the contacts the council received were from outside the organisation, meaning these people aren't covered by the employee law, but the council said it makes "every reasonable effort" to protect them under the process.

[rebbonk]

Under the present circumstances, one must ask if this was the right decision.

[dutchman]

I very much doubt the council took any action at all?

I once read a housing manager had been moved to a different department after failing to meet targets and spoke to him the very next day in the same housing office!