London, June 4, 2007 – UK is a nation of whistle-blowers

Of the 13 European nationalities asked, the French felt the least confident about alerting the authorities to fraud, bribery or corruption within their companies. Only 39pc would do so. Similarly, only about two fifths of people in the Czech Republic and Austria would speak out.
In the UK, however, 86pc of employees said they would feel comfortable telling tales, the highest proportion of any European country in the report. An equally high percentage believe employers would protect whistle-blowers.

John Smart, partner at E&Y, attributed the confidence gap to differences in cultures, legislation and regulation in each country. He said: “The UK has developed a very strong reporting culture based on anonymous informing of wrongdoing. It is supported by law, such as the 1998 Public Interest Disclosure Act, that forbids the sacking of whistle-blowers who acted in good faith.”According to the survey, most staff consider their immediate boss as the first port of call when they suspect illegal activity within their companies. Overall, only one in five of the 1,300 Europeans asked would risk informing on their colleagues

Sophie Brodie
The Daily Telegraph