The island’s whistleblowing system is designed to protect departments, not staff, and punishes those who speak out, a senior union official has told a Tynwald committee.
Unite the Union’s Regional Officer Debbie Halsall said the current policy leaves individuals “exposed” and described a culture of fear, retaliation, and cover-up within the government.
Appearing before the Whistleblowing Committee, chaired by Julie Edge MHK, Ms Halsall said the system is fundamentally flawed because it “investigates itself”.
“Whistleblowing is managed internally from start to finish. That is unacceptable,” she said. “Protection depends on internal classification with no independent review. Once protection is removed, safeguards fall away.”
Independent
Ms Halsall, representing the island’s largest trade union, argued that HR is “part of the employer and cannot be independent by design”.
She said: “A system that investigates itself cannot provide genuine protection, and as such, it’s marking its own homework.”
Her testimony highlighted cases where whistleblowers were silenced.
“Individuals cannot continue working as their employment ended through settlement agreements containing confidentiality clauses,” she said.
“The effect of these agreements was to prevent individuals from speaking out about their whistleblowing experience.”
The union leader was scathing about the government’s recently introduced Public Service Integrity Line, saying her union’s members had used it, but to no avail.
When asked if she had seen any improvement since policy rewrites and the introduction of a ‘public interest test’, her response was blunt: “No, I don’t.”
Vilified
Instead, she described a worsening environment where staff are “vilified to the extreme” for raising concerns.
“People know that if they raise their head above the parapet, they are going to be subjected to very inappropriate behaviour, and they are going to be punished and pushed through a door.”
Ms Halsall added that the union has become “HR, staff welfare, advisors, everything rolled up” she said this because staff have “got no safe space”.
“I’ve walked the street with people who have been on the edge of taking their life. That’s how impactful this has happened to them.”
When asked by Gary Clueit MLC why the legal protection wasn’t enough, Ms Halsall returned to her core argument about the lack of independence.
“You mark your own homework. So how can you expect to go into a meeting with the very same people who are going to tell you that’s not whistleblowing?”
She added: “There has to be an independent, external provider with trade unions sitting on there,” arguing it was the only way to build trust and ensure accountability.
Concluding her evidence, she challenged the committee to act.
“Your policy is clear. It protects the departments. It protects an organisation. It does not protect individuals and that needs to change.”
Source: Manx News, 29 January 2026
