Expansion to Whistleblowing Protections – Sanctions Breaches
The Government is implementing significant changes to its whistleblowing legislation this week to strengthen the enforcement of its sanctions regime. These reforms, which are coming into force on 26 June, are designed to encourage and protect individuals who report breaches of UK financial, trade and transport sanctions, thereby enhancing transparency and accountability within the sanctions framework.
Key Legislative Changes
The Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons) (Amendment) Order 2025 amends the existing whistleblowing foundations to explicitly include sanctions-related disclosures.
HM Treasury has been added as a “prescribed person” for whistleblowing purposes. This means workers who report suspected breaches of UK financial sanctions to the Treasury will now be legally protected from unfair dismissal and detriment.
The scope of matters that can be disclosed to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade and the Secretary of State for Transport has been expanded to include trade and transport sanctions breaches, respectively. This covers violations such as import/export restrictions, director disqualification sanctions, and offences related to aircraft and shipping sanctions.
Purpose and Impact
These changes aim to:
Enhance the effectiveness of UK sanctions by making it safer and easier to report suspected violations.
Improve government oversight and enforcement capabilities by increasing the flow of actionable intelligence from those closest to potential breaches.
Bring the UK more in line with international best practice, particularly the US and EU both of which have already moved to strengthen whistleblower protections and incentivise reporting in the context of sanctions enforcement.
Practical Implications
From 26 June 2025, workers who disclose information about sanctions breaches to the specified government bodies will be protected under the Employment Rights Act 1996. This extends statutory protection from unfair dismissal and detriment to those reporting both financial and trade sanctions violations.
Employers must ensure their internal policies and training reflect these changes and staff should be advised about the options open to them if they are concerned about sanctions breaches and ensure a culture of openness so that issues around potential breaches can be raised and managed internally before they are escalated to external prescribed persons.
Failure to protect whistleblowers could result in significant legal consequences.
Future Developments
While these reforms represent a significant step forward, some experts have noted that the UK’s whistleblower framework remains narrower than in jurisdictions like the US. In the UK, protections are still largely limited to disclosures made by workers about their current or former employers, which may not cover all scenarios of modern sanctions evasion that often involve complex networks and third parties.
There is growing momentum for further reforms, including the introduction of incentives for whistleblowers who report complex economic crimes, as highlighted by ongoing reviews and consultations by the Serious Fraud Office and other bodies.
Summary
The UK government’s amendments mark a decisive move to strengthen sanctions enforcement by protecting and encouraging disclosures about sanctions breaches. By broadening the scope of protected disclosures and designating key government bodies as prescribed persons, the UK aims to bolster its ability to detect and respond to sanctions violations in an increasingly complex global environment.