On June 3, Members of Parliament in the United Kingdom spoke about the need for the country to offer whistleblower awards to corporate insiders during a debate on the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
The head of the SFO, Nick Ephgrave has repeatedly stated his interest in offering whistleblower awards in a way modeled off the highly successful whistleblower programs in the United States.
During the debate, MP Joe Powell stated:
“First, I strongly welcome the SFO’s commitment to progressing a new incentivisation scheme on whistleblowing. In the United States, such schemes have unlocked more than $50 billion in recoveries, and significant numbers of UK whistleblowers have contributed tips to US authorities because the scheme incentivises them more than if they did so here. It is beyond time that the UK had a comparable mechanism, and I hope that the Government will look at ways to develop a properly resourced whistleblower reward scheme.”
MP Lucy Rigby followed up with her support for whistleblower awards, stating:
“It is absolutely right that, in this environment, the SFO examines new and potentially transformative tools in the fight against fraud and economic crime, including the financial incentivisation of whistleblowers. That is clearly a priority issue for the director, and I note that Jonathan Fisher KC will be considering such incentivisation as part of his independent review of fraud.”
According to a recent article by whistleblower advocates in the U.S., the current whistleblower system in the UK “fails to incentivize whistleblowing, fails to adequately protect whistleblowers, and fails to include an enforcement mechanism through which to respond to whistleblower tips about corruption and fraud.”
In December, the prestigious UK think tank the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) released a landmark report calling for a whistleblower award program in the UK. The RUSI report examines the successes of U.S. whistleblower award programs and states that the United Kingdom should end its “long-held antipathy” towards paying whistleblowers because such a program could play a “pivotal role” in reducing white-collar offences.
Further Reading:
Tue 3rd Jun 2025: Serious Fraud Office
In Major Breakthrough, UK Think Tank Calls for Whistleblower Awards
