Other provisions relating to children in England Children’s social care: pre-employment protection of whistle-blowers
The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 ("PIDA") established a whistleblowing framework, the purpose of which is set out in the preamble as "to protect individuals who make certain disclosures of information in the public interest; to allow such individuals to bring action in respect of victimisation". The whistleblowing framework currently operates within the scope of employment law and complaints brought in relation to PIDA are dealt with by the employment tribunals. The legislation protects employees or "workers" from being subjected to either detriment or dismissal on the ground that they have made a protected disclosure.
	A worker who blows the whistle, by making a protected disclosure in accordance with the criteria set out in Part IVA sections 43B to 43H of the Employment Rights Act 1996, has the right not to be unfairly dismissed or suffer a detriment as a result of having made that disclosure.
	Currently, job applicants, in general, do not fall within the definitions of worker. However, section 49B of the ERA provides a power to the Secretary of State to make regulations prohibiting an NHS employer from discriminating against an applicant because it appears to the NHS employer that the applicant has blown the whistle. Section 49B was inserted into the ERA by sections 149(1) and (2) of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015.