Whistleblowing: How to make a report

Find out how to report your concerns to our Whistleblowing team and what happens to your information once you have made a report.

Before contacting the FCA

Before speaking to us, you should consider:

raising your concerns internally at your firm (if you are confident doing so)
speaking with the whistleblowing charity Protect[2]
taking time to understand more about the legal protections given to whistleblowers[3] through the Public Interest Disclosure Act

What happens when you contact us

If you have any questions, or if you’re ready to make a report, we'll make sure you understand the process and will help you where possible.

You'll be assigned a point of contact within the Whistleblowing team. Your point of contact can arrange to speak with you or meet you in person to talk about your concerns.

Your point of contact will:

listen to your concerns in full
take the time to understand your concerns
ask questions to make sure they have the information they need to progress your report

We may suggest that you make reports independently to other regulators or public bodies, such as law enforcement agencies if appropriate.

We will also formally acknowledge that we have received your information and give you a reference number.

1: We create a report

We create a report

Once you have contacted us, our dedicated team will create a report about your concerns. It’s important to remember that this report will not identify you.

We will share this report securely with relevant teams at the FCA. They will assess the potential harm you have raised and what we can do to address your concerns, without disclosing your identity.

We may also share your report with other regulators or public bodies, such as law enforcement agencies.

2: We make enquiries

We make enquiries

All the reports we receive are reviewed and assessed individually to identify potential harm. We then review your concerns alongside other relevant information available to us and to the public.

We will consider how your concerns relate to any prior, current or proposed work we are doing with the firm.

As part of our work, we may decide to contact the firm. We may need help from you to ensure we're doing this in a way that doesn't put you at risk.

What we can’t do

We are unable to:

provide you with legal advice or guidance
accept reports that solely relate to employment disputes
share confidential information restricted by the Financial Services and Markets Act. This includes confidential information about the supervision work we do and enforcement investigations
provide you with exact timings on when our review of your report will be finalised

We undertook a survey[4] to better understand the experience of those who blow the whistle to us. We are carefully considering how we can best keep whistleblowers updated on how we are treating and acting on the information they have provided.

Case closure and feedback

When the assessment of your disclosure is complete, your case will be reviewed by an appropriate manager.

We will then contact you to provide final feedback on your disclosure. However, the detail we can provide is subject to confidentiality limitations.

Read our whistleblower case studies[5] to see how whistleblowing reports help us to act.

Timescales for cases

Each whistleblowing case is different and so the time it takes to assess each case will vary. Assessing and acting on whistleblowing information can take time - it may also become part of our ongoing supervisory work with a specific firm.

For these reasons, we can't be specific about how long the process will take, but typically a case will last for a few months or more.

What we can share with you

Once we've received your information, we may not need to speak to you further while we look at the details. We will contact you if we need to ask more questions about your report, or to ensure we know how to protect your identity in any actions we may take.

It's important to understand that what we can share with you will be limited due to the confidential or sensitive nature of the information or legal restrictions.

We always aim to make sure you understand how your information has been used by us.

Cases that result in prosecutions, fines or bans will normally be made public. Where we can publish outcomes of cases, and where your information has helped us, we will normally let you know.

Make a whistleblowing report

The information we receive from whistleblowers helps us to act. As a regulator, we can only act on your concerns if you tell us about them.

Many regulated firms will have a whistleblowing process in place, and if you feel confident in doing so, you may wish to follow this process before speaking to us. You don't have to do so though.

If you have more questions about our process, or are ready report it to us, you can contact us via the information below.

We can arrange to meet with you to discuss your concerns in person, but we will need some information before meeting with you. To find out more, please contact the Whistleblowing team using the contact details above.

Contact the PRA[6] for any wrongdoing related to prudential issues in a PRA-regulated firm.

What to include in your report

To start the process, an email or phone call to us is enough. To help us quickly understand and progress your report, it will be helpful to know the following:

the firm or individual's name
what is the suspected wrongdoing
who is involved
how long it has been going on
where this is happening
what is the impact
if you have any supporting documents or evidence you can share with us

We don't encourage whistleblowers to proactively obtain any more information from any source, whatever the circumstances, as this might break the law. However, we may ask whistleblowers to clarify the information they have already given us.

What we will need to know about you

It is helpful to have your contact details (an email address, for example). This is not mandatory, but we may sometimes need to ask you more questions, update you on progress or follow up on the information you've provided.

Any of the details you share with us will be stored securely and we limit access to this information to the Whistleblowing team. Remember, providing us with your details is up to you − we will accept and process your information if you want to remain anonymous as well.

Contact the FCA Whistleblowing team

call: +44 (0)20 7066 9200 between 10am to 3pm, or leave a message
email: [email protected]
write to: Intelligence Department (Ref PIDA), Financial Conduct Authority, 12 Endeavour Square, London, E20 1JN
use our online form[7] to make a report

We record all calls to make sure we capture your information correctly.

Please note, the 'Was this page helpful?' option below should not be used to contact the team or make a report.

23/02/2023 : Editorial amendment page updated as part of website refresh

First published: 21/10/2020 Last updated: 01/02/2024 See all updates