The term ‘whistleblowing’ refers to any confidential disclosure of suspected wrongdoing in respect of anyone working for or associated with the Council.
Our Whistleblowing Policy aims to provide a procedure for individuals to raise concerns, to encourage them to feel confident that they may do so without fear of recrimination, and to reassure them that their concerns will be properly investigated.
Potential areas of concern may include:
- Any unlawful act, whether criminal (e.g. theft) or breach of civil law;
- Danger to health and safety;
- Unauthorised use of public funds;
- Possible fraud and corruption.
Raising a concern
Do you know of (or have good reason to suspect) fraudulent or corrupt activity involving the Council, its employees, Councillors or agents? If so, please do something about it today by selecting the relevant option below.
If you are a member of staff, agency staff, self-employed worker, contractor, or volunteer you can raise your concern or suspicion in the first instance with your line manager or Head of Service. (The officer receiving the allegation is then required to inform the Audit Manager and the Section 151 Officer and/or Monitoring Officer.) If this is not appropriate you can raise the issue directly with one of the following Designated Officers.
- Lorna Ford, Chief Executive
- Andrew Vallance, Deputy Chief Executive (Section 151 Officer)
- Ben Hook, Director – Place and Climate Change
- Linda Walker, Interim Monitoring Officer
- Gary Angell, Audit Manager
If you are a Councillor you should approach one of the above Designated Officers directly.
If you are a member of the public then you are encouraged to raise any matters of concern directly with the Council by contacting the Audit Manager. This may be done using one of the following methods:
- Online: By completing a Whistleblowing Form
- By email: By sending a message to audit@rother.gov.uk
- By telephone: By calling the Fraud Hotline on 01424 787799
- By post: By writing to the Audit Manager at Rother District Council, Town Hall, Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, TN39 3JX
All Whistleblowing Forms and email messages are delivered direct to the Audit Manager and are only accessible by this officer. Similarly, all calls (and voicemail messages) received on the Fraud Hotline can only be answered (or accessed in the case of a message) by the Audit Manager.
All information received by the Audit Manager will be handled in the strictest confidence but you may still raise your concerns anonymously if you prefer.
In the event that the Audit Manager is absent for any sustained period of time (e.g. annual leave of more than 72 hours) then one of the Designated Officers listed above will be given secure access to any messages received.