Whistleblowing externally: does the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 fail whistleblowers when internal disclosure fails?

This study seeks to discover whether the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 does enough to support whistleblowers who seek to disclose wrongdoing. The study takes a brief look at the legislation, and then looks into the role of the prescribed persons and how effective they are in performing their role when receiving a disclosure. The study looks into primary data from both prescribed persons websites, and responses to a questionnaire. It then goes on to look at the position in New Zealand to see whether there is anything that can be transposed into UK law to benefit whistleblowers. The research shows that recent changes to the law make it difficult for whistleblowers. This is further hindered by the failure of government to maintain a correct list of prescribed persons. It further found that whilst many prescribed persons took the role seriously and gave it importance there is much to be developed. The comparison with New Zealand shows that prescribed persons could be made to do more and that minor changes to the law could potentially have significant impact.