A Jamie HR manager's guide

The manager's guide to whistleblowing

A practical guide for managers and small businesses on whistleblowing protection, the new rule making sexual harassment a specific category of protected disclosure, and what to update in your policy, training and reporting channels.
Harassment now a category
Day-one protection
No cap on compensation

Sexual harassment reports can now be protected whistleblowing disclosures.

Whistleblowing law has protected workers who speak up about wrongdoing since 1998. From 6 April 2026, the Employment Rights Act 2025 added sexual harassment as its own category of wrongdoing, removing any need to fit a harassment report into one of the older categories. This guide sets out the whistleblowing framework, what the change means in practice, and what to update in your policy, manager training and reporting channels.

What's inside
What is whistleblowing protection?3
What counts as a relevant failure4
Sexual harassment: a new category from April 20265
What this means in practice6
Protection from detriment and dismissal7
Update your whistleblowing policy8
Train your managers9
Check your reporting channels10
A related but separate duty: all reasonable steps11
Getting whistleblowing right12
How Jamie HR helps13

What is whistleblowing protection?

Whistleblowing law protects workers who speak up about wrongdoing at work.
  • The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 inserted Part IVA into the Employment Rights Act 1996, creating the whistleblowing protection framework.
  • Protection starts once a worker makes a 'qualifying disclosure': information that, in their reasonable belief, tends to show one of a fixed list of wrongdoings and is made in the public interest.
  • A qualifying disclosure becomes a 'protected disclosure' once it is made in one of the ways the Act sets out, most commonly to the employer.
  • A disclosure can also be protected when made to a legal adviser, a Minister of the Crown, or a prescribed regulator, and in limited circumstances more widely.
  • Protection extends to workers as well as employees, including agency workers and trainees, not only those on a standard employment contract.

What counts as a relevant failure

A qualifying disclosure must relate to one of a fixed list of wrongdoings, known in law as a 'relevant failure'.
  • A criminal offence has been, is being, or is likely to be committed.
  • A person has failed, is failing, or is likely to fail to comply with a legal obligation.
  • A miscarriage of justice has occurred, is occurring, or is likely to occur.
  • The health or safety of any individual has been, is being, or is likely to be endangered.
  • The environment has been, is being, or is likely to be damaged.
  • Information tending to show any of the above is being, or is likely to be, deliberately concealed.

Sexual harassment: a new category from April 2026

The Employment Rights Act 2025 added a seventh category of relevant failure, specifically for sexual harassment.
  • Section 23 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 inserted a new paragraph into section 43B of the Employment Rights Act 1996, so that sexual harassment having occurred, occurring, or being likely to occur is its own category of relevant failure.
  • Sexual harassment is defined by reference to the Equality Act 2010: unwanted conduct of a sexual nature that violates a person's dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.
  • This provision came into force on 6 April 2026, under commencement regulations made in March 2026.
  • The public interest test still applies to a sexual harassment disclosure, in the same way as to any other category.
Manager tip
Update your whistleblowing policy to name sexual harassment as a listed category, so the change is visible to employees rather than left implicit.

What this means in practice

Before this change, a sexual harassment report could only gain whistleblowing protection if it was framed as falling within an existing category.
  • An employee reporting sexual harassment no longer needs to argue that the report is really about a breach of a legal obligation or a health and safety danger.
  • The report can instead be treated directly as a disclosure about sexual harassment, provided the other conditions for a qualifying disclosure are met.
  • A report made only about the employee's own treatment, with no wider public interest element, may still fall outside whistleblowing protection, even though it can still be raised as a grievance or under the Equality Act 2010.
  • Whistleblowing protection and harassment protection under the Equality Act 2010 are separate legal routes, and an employee's report can potentially engage both.
Manager tip
Treat a sexual harassment report as a potential protected disclosure from the outset, and take advice if you are unsure whether the public interest test is met.

Protection from detriment and dismissal

Making a protected disclosure carries strong legal protection, with no minimum length of service required.
  • A worker must not be subjected to any detriment because they made a protected disclosure, under section 47B of the Employment Rights Act 1996.
  • An employee dismissed because they made a protected disclosure is automatically unfairly dismissed, under section 103A of the Employment Rights Act 1996.
  • Both protections apply from day one of employment. There is no qualifying period of service.
  • There is no cap on the compensation an employment tribunal can award for a whistleblowing detriment or dismissal claim.
  • A tribunal claim must normally be brought within three months less one day of the detriment or dismissal, and interim relief can be sought within seven days of a dismissal.
Watch out
Whistleblowing detriment and dismissal claims carry no qualifying period and no cap on compensation. Take advice before disciplining or dismissing anyone who has recently made a disclosure.

Update your whistleblowing policy

Your whistleblowing policy should reflect the new category and how it connects to your other policies.
  • Add sexual harassment to the list of relevant failures set out in the policy, alongside the existing categories.
  • Cross-reference your whistleblowing policy with your harassment, dignity at work and grievance policies, so employees can see how the routes connect.
  • State clearly that a sexual harassment report can be raised as a whistleblowing disclosure, a grievance, or both, and that employees are not required to choose only one route.
  • Set out who a disclosure can be made to internally, and confirm that reports will be treated confidentially so far as possible.

Train your managers

A protected disclosure does not have to be labelled as one, so managers need to recognise it when it happens.
  • Brief managers that a sexual harassment report, however it is raised, may be a protected disclosure and must be handled accordingly.
  • Instruct managers not to dismiss, minimise or informally set aside a report of sexual harassment, even where it is raised in an informal conversation.
  • Set out a clear escalation route for managers, so a report reaches HR or a designated contact promptly.
  • Remind managers that treating someone unfavourably because they made a disclosure, including a sexual harassment report, can expose the business to a detriment or unfair dismissal claim.
Manager tip
Include whistleblowing and sexual harassment reporting in induction and refresher training for anyone who manages people, not only in a standalone policy document.

Check your reporting channels

Employees need a clear, accessible route to raise a disclosure, and to know it will be taken seriously.
  • Confirm who within the business a disclosure can be made to, for example a line manager, HR contact or designated whistleblowing contact.
  • Provide at least one route that does not require reporting to the individual accused, for situations where the report concerns that person.
  • Tell employees that a disclosure can also be made to a prescribed regulator in defined circumstances, for example the Equality and Human Rights Commission for matters involving equality or human rights law.
  • Keep a confidential record of each disclosure and the action taken, separate from general personnel files.

A related but separate duty: all reasonable steps

The whistleblowing change sits alongside a separate strengthening of the duty to prevent sexual harassment.
  • Since October 2024, the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 has required employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees.
  • From October 2026, the Employment Rights Act 2025 raises that standard: employers must take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, rather than reasonable steps.
  • From October 2026, employers can also be liable for harassment of their employees by third parties, such as customers or clients, unless all reasonable steps have been taken to prevent it.
  • The prevention duty and whistleblowing protection are separate: the prevention duty requires you to reduce harassment happening in the first place, while whistleblowing protection covers an employee who reports it after the fact.
Watch out
The all reasonable steps duty takes effect from October 2026. Review your harassment risk assessment, policy and training ahead of that date, and take advice on what steps are reasonable for your business.

Getting whistleblowing right

A summary of the essentials covered in this guide:
  • Know the categories of relevant failure, including sexual harassment as a specific category from 6 April 2026.
  • Treat any report that could be a protected disclosure seriously, whether or not it is labelled as whistleblowing.
  • Remember that detriment and automatic unfair dismissal protection apply from day one, with no cap on compensation.
  • Update your whistleblowing policy to name sexual harassment and cross-reference your harassment and grievance policies.
  • Train managers to recognise and escalate a disclosure, and check your reporting channels are clear and confidential.
  • Prepare separately for the all reasonable steps duty to prevent sexual harassment, which takes effect from October 2026.

How Jamie HR helps

Jamie HR keeps your whistleblowing and harassment policies, training records and reports in one secure place.
  • Policy library to hold your whistleblowing, harassment and grievance policies where every manager and employee can find them.
  • Secure document storage so disclosures and related records are kept confidential and access-controlled.
  • Employee records that keep a clear, timestamped account of any report and the action taken.
  • Training records so you can show managers have completed whistleblowing and harassment training.
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This guide is general information, accurate to the best of our knowledge as of 2026, and is not legal advice. Employment law changes and every situation is different, so for a specific case take professional HR or legal advice. Sources: legislation.gov.uk, gov.uk, ACAS and the Equality and Human Rights Commission.