The best warning system: Whistleblowing during COVID-19. An examination of the experiences of UK whistleblowers during a global pandemic (October 2020)

Summary

The outbreak of COVID-19 changed everything, for everyone, across the globe. New ways of working and every day challenges were a reality for us all, none more so than for key workers. 

But the pandemic also highlighted the role whistleblowing plays in all of our lives and the perils of not listening to whistleblowers and their concerns. From the late Wuhan doctor, Dr Li Wenliang, who selflessly tried to warn of the dangers of the coronavirus outbreak (and was later reprimanded for his “false comments”), to our own NHS staff and care home workers speaking out about PPE safety concerns and working conditions, and the furlough fraud crisis, whistleblowing has been centre-stage during COVID-19.

This report from Protect considers the concerns whistleblowers raised with our Advice Line in the first six months of lockdown in the UK (March - September 2020).