The Board of Governors’ Audit Committee has recently updated the University’s Public Interest Disclosure Policy. This allows staff and students to ‘blow the whistle’ about serious concerns about malpractice in the workplace which cannot be dealt with by the more standard internal policies, such as disciplinary or grievance procedures. It is intended to cover malpractice such as corruption, unlawful practices, and serious financial maladministration, where it is believed that there is a public interest, and not simply a personal implication, justifying disclosure outside the usual channels. The Policy is derived from legislation designed to protect whistle-blowers from repercussions, as long as they have properly followed the process set out in the Policy.
The Policy can be found on the Portal at
https://ps.lincoln.ac.uk/services/hr/Employment/Whistleblowing/SitePages/Home.aspx
Disclosures of serious malpractice should normally be made, at least initially, to one of the people mentioned in section 5.2 of the Policy.