Blowing the whistle to the Department for Education

What is whistleblowing is

AYou whistleblowingcan disclosuremake cana bewhistleblowing madedisclosure to report any wrongdoing inthat’s your setting which is in the public interest.

Read whistleblowing for employees to find out about:

• what counts as whistleblowing
• how you will be protected by law if you make a disclosure

Who can make a disclosure

You can make a disclosure directlydirect to the Department for Education (DfE) if you are:

• an employee
• a volunteer who has knowledge of the settingacademy or post-16 provider – for exampleexample, if you are a trustee in an academy trust

Only employees are protected by law if they make a disclosure directly to their employer. Disclosures made to DfE by volunteers may not receive the same protections. However, DfE will always protect the identity of any whistleblowers.whistleblower.

More information on how we handle whistleblowing disclosures is available.

What to include in a disclosure

Give us the full details of your schoolacademy or post-16 provider, so we can investigate. Make sure you provide us with the setting’s:its:

• full name, especially if itit’s is a common namename, such as ‘St Mary’s’
• address and postcode

Without this information we cannot investigate.

Make a disclosure

You can makeeither make:

• a whistleblowing disclosure directlydirect to your setting.

  Youacademy canor alsopost-16 make provider

• a disclosure to DfE.

Make How you make a disclosure toabout usan will depend on the type of setting you are in.

Schoolsacademy

To complain or make a disclosure about an academyacademy, trustwith orthe freeoption school,to use:

• remain anonymous, use the Customercustomer Helphelp Portalportal. ifIf you agreewish to disclosingsubmit your identity
• our complain about a schoolcomplaint guidanceanonymously, ifuse youthe wish‘guest’ to remain anonymous

option.

CollegesMake anda independentdisclosure trainingabout providersa post-16 provider

ComplainTo or make a disclosure about a post-16 educationprovider, or training provider by:either:

• emailinguse yourthe complaintscustomer orhelp disclosureportal – if you wish to customer.complaints@education.gov.uk do so anonymously, use the ‘guest’ option
• sendingwrite a letter to:

Customer Service Team,Team
Department for Education
Cheylesmore House
Quinton Road
Coventry CV1 2WT

What happens after makingyou make a disclosure to DfE

Once we receive your disclosure, we will:we’ll:

• send you an acknowledgementacknowledgement, (ifif you shared your contact details)details
• confirm that wewe’ll will not contact you unless we need further information for any investigation

WeWe’ll will not enter into a conversation with you once wewe’ve have started a formal investigation. This is to ensure we:

• protect your confidentiality and anonymity
• do nothing that could potentially undermine the legitimacy of the outcome of any investigation