Increase in whistleblowing reports to council

During 2024-25, Shropshire Council received 28 reports compared with 23 the previous year

There has been an increase in the number of whistleblowing reports made to Shropshire Council, a committee meeting has heard.

During 2024-25, the authority received 28 reports compared with 23 the previous year.

Whistleblowing provides a process for concerns to be raised in relation to work such as fraud, adult or child protection, or harassment and bullying allegations.

The majority of the reports in 2024-25 were received by email, with the most common theme being staffing. No cases were referred to an external third party.

Other themes included council tax, non-domestic rates, safeguarding, tenancy fraud, theft or fraud, and planning or building control.

Of these reports, 10 resulted in management action, with seven having "no case to answer", while 10 are ongoing and one has been listed as "not-applicable".

Speaking at Shropshire Council's audit committee, Councillor Malcolm Myles-Hook asked what was going to change to bring the numbers down next year, and if members had learned the outcome of actions.

Executive director James Walton said the council did not report what the management actions were, and they could be from "very minor to quite major".

"There is an argument of whether more whistleblowing is good or not," he told the committee.

"It's about accessibility. If lots of people blow the whistle and no action is taken as a result of it, then there's something wrong. All we can do is report what it is.

"What we don't want going out is 'if you blow the whistle in some way, you're going to be identified'."

Councillor Duncan Kerr, who was chairing the meeting, said that members needed to have some information about what the outcome was, "otherwise what's the point in having a policy?"

He also asked if there could be an investigation into whether a call handling company could be used to handle reports over the phone, and if there could be some clarification to staff about what the policy was.

That was approved by members.

Meanwhile, Councillor Kerr confirmed that in 2024-25, there were no whistleblowing reports related to the North West Relief Road.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which covers councils and other public service organisations.