When should I “Speak Up”?
At Barnardo’s we take whistleblowing very seriously and are committed to independently investigating any allegations raised. If you do see or suspect any malpractice or wrong-doing we want you to tell us about it.
You should use this independent “Whistleblowing” service if you see or suspect:
- Fraud
- Security issues
- Health and Safety
- Data Breaches
- Bribery
- Corruption
- Dishonesty (covering up of wrong-doing)
- Bullying, Harassment or Discrimination (where you feel unable to approach your manager or main Barnardo’s contact about)
or any other issue that you feel is unacceptable in the workplace and are unable to approach your manager.The Service is primarily for concerns where the interests of others (in the public interest), or of the charity itself, are at risk, whether they are happening now, took place in the past, or are likely to happen in the future.
If you are reporting from a retail store please make sure to include your store number within your report if you are comfortable in doing so. This will allow Barnardo's to investigate your concern thoroughly and promptly.
If you are an employee/worker and your concern is about your working with another employee (or volunteer) you should consider using the Resolution Policy or other applicable policy, which may be found here:
Got a question?
Yes. If you do not tell Safecall who you are they will not know your identity. Even if you make a mistake and accidentally tell Safecall your name they will not pass it on if you do not want them to. Also, Safecall do not audio record any of the calls to help protect the identity of anonymous callers.
When you make a report you will have the choice to do so as:
- Named: You agree that your identity can be passed by Safecall to your organisation.
- Semi Anonymous: You agree to provide your identity to Safecall but you do not want this passing to your organisation. Safecall may contact you using the details you have provided.
- Anonymous: You do not want to provide your identity to Safecall or your organisation.
All concerns raised are received and logged by Safecall, who are independent of Barnardo’s. Concerns are then passed to Audit and Assurance (A&A), confidentially and if requested, anonymously, for investigation.
On receiving your concern, provided you are satisfied with providing your name, you will be contacted by Audit and Assurance (A&A) in confidence, usually within 3 workings days, to acknowledge receipt of your concern. Within 10 working days you will receive confirmation of:
how it is proposed to deal with this matter
whether further investigations will take place, or if not deemed appropriate, why this decision has been made
where an investigation is deemed appropriate, provide a named point of contact during the investigation, and confirm temporary alternative working arrangements (if applicable).
You will receive a progress update within a further 10 working days of the initial enquiries.
If you wish to remain completely anonymous, A&A will carry out an initial assessment of your report to consider the most appropriate next steps. If an investigation, under the whistleblowing policy, is not deemed appropriate we will inform you and, where applicable, provide advice on more suitable methods of investigating your concerns (e.g. if your concern is a personal grievance or complaint, this would normally be dealt with under our Grievance Resolution Policy).
If an investigation is deemed appropriate, we will undertake enquiries, but it is likely to be more difficult to investigate your concerns if you remain anonymous. If you do wish to remain anonymous, please ensure you provide a sufficient amount of information to enable your concerns to be properly investigated.
The Director of Audit & Assurance, in consultation with the relevant senior manager in the area about which the whistleblowing concern is raised (where the concern is not perceived to involve them), will determine who will perform the investigation. If there is an actual or perceived risk to the independence and objectivity of the investigation, this will be undertaken in full by a member of Audit & Assurance.
If the complaint is made about a member of the Corporate Leadership Team (not including the CEO), the CEO is responsible for determining the appropriate course of action, including who will perform the detailed investigation, where required.
If the complaint is related to the CEO the Chair of Risk Committee is responsible for determining the appropriate course of action, including who will perform the detailed investigation, where required.
The investigator will contact you to discuss your concerns in more detail. If necessary, the investigator will meet with you to find out all the facts and check any details. You may be asked to give a written statement.
Once the investigator clarifies your concerns, if he/she believes the concerns fall outside this policy you will be advised of the alternative route to follow.
The investigator will keep you informed as to the likely duration of the investigation.
Once the investigation is complete, we will contact you to confirm the outcome, where possible. Because of confidentiality and data protection we may not be able to share details of our findings with you (e.g. where you have chosen to remain anonymous), but we will discuss this with you fully and, where we can, explain our decisions.