Delayed whistleblowing investigation letter

If there’s a genuine, unavoidable delay in your investigation, to manage expectations you should keep the whistleblower appraised of the situation.

Whistleblowing investigation

Where it appears that a worker has made a “protected disclosure” to you about wrongdoing at work, such as relating to a danger to an individual’s health and safety, damage to the environment, a criminal offence or the breach of a legal obligation, you should promptly investigate the matter to establish the facts. You can use our Letter Acknowledging Whistleblowing Disclosure to confirm receipt of the worker’s whistleblowing disclosure and to advise them that you’re now launching an investigation and what the next steps will be. You’ll probably need to interview the worker as part of your investigation. Do also ensure you comply with the terms of your Whistleblowing Policy.

Notice of delays

How long a whistleblowing investigation takes will very much depend on the nature of the disclosure, how many witnesses need to be interviewed and/or how much documentary evidence needs to be located and collated. Once you’ve made a rough assessment of what the investigation should include, set a timescale for it to be completed to try and keep the matter on track. It’s important that you complete the investigation promptly and without unreasonable delay. However, occasionally there may be unforeseen or unavoidable delays in the investigation. Our Delayed Whistleblowing Investigation Letter is to send to keep the worker in the picture and explain the reasons for delay.

Reasons for delayed investigation

There can be various reasons for the whistleblowing investigation being delayed. For example, it may be appropriate to delay the investigation for a short period because a key witness is unavailable for interview, e.g. they’re on holiday or sick leave, or because you’re having difficulties locating some key documents. Alternatively, the appointed investigator may unexpectedly go off sick part-way through their investigation - but if this becomes protracted, you should appoint someone else to take over the investigation. Finally, the allegations made by the worker may be so serious that you need to report the matter immediately to the police and so you want to see what the police investigation uncovers first before concluding your own internal investigation. We’ve covered all these scenarios in our letter, but there may be others, in which case you can add to our letter as appropriate. The important thing is that the delay is reasonable and due to circumstances outside your control - don’t be tempted to delay just because work is busy or because you think you have more important things to do.

Conclusion of investigation

Once you’re in a position to conclude your investigation, you can let the worker know the outcome using our Letter Notifying Outcome of Whistleblowing Disclosure.