Low number of Sheffield council staff use whistleblowing policy to report wrongdoing
Staff have made five whistleblowing complaints to Sheffield City Council in the space of a year and three investigations are still ongoing.
The whistleblowing policy allows council staff to safely report any criminal offences, failure to comply with legal obligations, evidence of fraud, theft or corruption, dangers to health and safety of the general public or employees or damage to the environment.
The council’s audit and standards committee heard last week (July 23) that one whistleblower’s report led to a “rigorous” independent investigation about staff health and safety.
Lessons were learned and action taken but the allegations in the complaint were not upheld, however.
Another case “made significant recommendations pertaining to the council’s legal duty to promote positive race relations but did not uphold the body of the complaint itself,” a report said.
Fraud
The open cases “mainly concern accusations of nepotism, fraud and victimisation”.
Jane English, director of people and organisational culture, said: “As an organisation of 8,500 people, having five whistleblowing complaints is low and it seems very low.”
She said there are several other ways that staff can raise issues. These include through grievance procedures and the anonymous feedback system Open Door.
This allows employees to raise issues or concerns when they are not comfortable bringing the matter directly to management or HR or via trade unions. Open Door is operated by an external organisation to increase anonymity.
The report said: “Over the last year, we have seen a significant amount of employee relations cases, covering a range of issues such as dignity and respect, grievances and disciplinaries.
Culture
“As of April 2026, this was at 200 and by June 2026 that number is down to 140. This is due to the focused effort of a new centralised employee relations team within the people and organisational culture service.
“As of June 2026, there are 19 open grievances and 16 were closed, so 35 in total for the past year.”
Councillor Laura Moynahan was concerned that a high number – 92 people – used Open Door. She said that staff might be worried about retaliation or victimisation if they used the normal grievance procedure.