Niall Hearty of Rahman Ravelli outlines what went wrong
The company behind high-speed rail project HS2 is paying more than £319,000 to a former analyst who alleged he was excluded from two roles after acting as a whistleblower.
The money is to be paid by HS2 Ltd to project risk practitioner Stephen Cresswell, who had warned that cost forecasts were being manipulated to secure funding.
Mr Cresswell had highlighted issues regarding cost modelling and risk assessments relating to the controversial high-speed railway. HS2 Ltd admitted that he had not been considered for two consultancy roles on the project and had his contract terminated in September 2022 in connection with the concerns he raised.
Mr Cresswell told an employment tribunal he had challenged attempts by HS2 Ltd staff to ignore forecasts of increased costs and warnings relating to mismatches between projected savings and actual cost risks. He expressed concern in a 2022 memo that a phase of the project was likely to exceed its funding and that the likely costs being reported were overly optimistic. He later raised the possibility of fraud having been committed.
He believed that how HS2 Ltd treated him after he raised these concerns was a direct response to him raising them. HS2 accepted partial responsibility in a settlement approved by the tribunal and agreed that it had treated Mr Cresswell unfairly after he voiced his concerns.
After the case, HS2 Ltd said Mr Cresswell had not been "given the appropriate level of protection'' and added that it had since revised its whistleblowing practices. But the company stressed that its admission regarding his treatment did not mean it accepted his criticism of its cost estimations practices and said an internal investigation found no evidence of fraud or criminal wrongdoing.
Measures
The case serves to emphasise that all companies should have sufficient measures in place to ensure that any whistleblowing by employees is taken seriously in the first instance. It is also important that such individuals are given appropriate levels of protection, which was clearly not the case here. While the fine in this case was minimal given the operational cost behind HS2, the resulting reputational damage may act as a warning to other companies about the perils of not treating whistleblowers appropriately.
Under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA), whistleblowing in UK companies is legally protected - meaning employees can report wrongdoing without fear of unfair dismissal or other negative treatment. HS2 Ltd should, therefore, have ensured that the employee in question was not penalised for raising their concerns.
Ideally, all employers should have a whistleblowing policy in place so that they comply with all their legal obligations in such circumstances.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
