DTI pays £130,000 damages for time wasting
11 July 2006
The Department of Trade & Industry has paid £130,137.50 in compensation to the whistleblowing charity, Public Concern at Work, for wasting its time. The unprecedented payment, announced today Tuesday 11 th July, arises from the DTI’s dispute with the charity about a High Court ruling that the public were entitled to know about the whistleblowing issues in claims being brought under the Public Interest Disclosure Act.
The compensation follows a report from the Parliamentary Ombudsman [1] that castigated the DTI for serious maladministration and incomprehensible conduct. The Ombudsman found that the DTI overturned the High Court ruling in secret, blocked Parliament from considering the new policy, misled consultees and failed to consider the public interest.
Along with the award – one of the highest on record [2] – the DTI has apologised to Public Concern at Work for its misconduct. Welcoming the apology, Guy Dehn, the charity’s director says “The critical issue now is that lessons are learned so that Parliament, the courts and the public do not have to endure such abuse again. To this end, we will use the compensation to fund work on the accountability of civil servants and on our open justice campaign”.
The charity’s open justice campaign aims to reverse the rule that now means the public has no right to any information about – or even to know the existence of – a whistleblowing claim unless it ends in a formal tribunal decision. As more than two in three whistleblowing claims [3] settle and lead to no decision, Public Concern at Work points out that this rule subverts the Act as it encourages employers and employees to trade the public interest for private gain. “The more serious the crime or wrongdoing ,” says Mr Dehn “the more likely this rule will be used to cover it up. When these claims are brought under the Public Interest Disclosure Act in a public forum and at public expense, it makes no sense that they should be shrouded in secrecy.”
The price of ‘botheration’
The damages were calculated to compensate the charity for the time its staff wasted as a result of the DTI’s serial maladministration and for denying it the opportunity to influence the legislative process [4]. Exceptionally, the Treasury agreed that the DTI should include an additional £15,000 as compensation for ‘botheration’ or distress. This is the first time such an award has been made to an organisation – as opposed to a member of the public – that has suffered loss and damage as a result of maladministration.
Note to editors
Public Concern at Work (PCaW) is an independent, self-funding whistleblowing charity. Set up in 1993, it helped devise and promote the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998. It runs a free confidential helpline on 020 7404 6609 for people with whistleblowing concerns; promotes the public interest through its policy work; and advises public bodies, business, regulators and unions on how to create more open and accountable cultures. The charity’s work has been commended by ministers, the Court of Appeal, leading newspapers, the Committee on Standards in Public Life and various public inquiries.
[1] The Ombudsman’s report and a press release summarising its findings are available here.
[2] The only higher maladministration award that we have found through a search of Parliamentary papers was a payment by the Home Office of £300,000 in 1999/00. As to the DTI, Hansard records that it made 24 payments totalling £27,280.87 as compensation for maladministration by its insolvency service in 2001/2. As for examples of payments for botheration or distress, Hansard records that the DWP made 9725 such payments to individuals totalling £773,000 (averaging £80 each) in 2002/3.
[3] In 2004/5 the rule meant that the details – including whether they were about corruption, public dangers or fraud - of 493 PIDA claims are unknown as they were settled.
[4] The Ombudsman explained in paragraph 99 of her Report that “serious shortcomings on the part of the department served to deny the charity the opportunity to influence the process of changing the regulations and the failure to keep the charity properly in the picture led them to incur unnecessary expense, time and trouble”. The DTI agreed to compensate Public Concern at Work at the average of the hourly fees it charged in each year to the companies and public bodies that use the charity’s consultancy and training services.
Damaging publicity
The Guardian 17th July 2006