How does it work?
Concerns may be raised using our dedicated email address: confidential@restlessdevelopment.org
- This email address is checked by Candie Cassabalian, our Regional Operations Director, and Segun Olowookere, our Finance Director.
- If your concern relates to these staff members, please direct your report to our interim co-CEOs. You can do so by emailing info@restlessdevelopment.org to request one of our co-CEO’s email addresses, stating that you wish to raise a concern or complaint (at this stage please do not include details of your complaint in your email to info@restlessdevelopment.org.
- In the event that a complaint is being made in regards to our interim co-CEOs and either Candie or Segun, then the complaint will be followed up by our HR team. In this case, please email info@restlessdevelopment.org and include ‘Confidential’ in the subject line.
- If these options are unsuitable then we suggest contacting the charity commission.
When raising a concern we request that you specify whether you wish your identity to be kept confidential.
Contact confidential@restlessdevelopment.org
Once a whistleblowing concern is received
1) We will log the issue, and acknowledge the concern within 72 hours by responding to the email address.
2) We will attempt to make further contact where necessary within 1 week.
3) We will obtain as much information as possible in order to make a judgement on how best to proceed. We will communicate whether or not, based on the initial information gathered, Restless Development will proceed to launch a full investigation as soon as possible and not later than 2 weeks from the original whistleblowing email.
4) If we decide to proceed, we will launch a formal investigation. The duration of the investigation will vary based on the nature of the issue. However, we aim to close the investigation within 1 month.
5) Please note that in order to respect confidentiality for all parties involved, the outcome of any investigation will not necessarily be communicated to the whistleblower.
Concerns / disclosures covered by the policy
If you have a genuine concern that there are reasonable grounds for believing that any of the following has occurred, is occurring or is likely to occur, please report them to us:
- A criminal offence
- A failure to comply with legal obligations
- Endangering an individual’s health and safety
- Damage to the natural environment
- Academic or professional malpractice
- Fraud or financial irregularity
- Improper or unauthorised use of funds
- Unethical or improper conduct or conduct which breaches Restless Development’s policies, values or procedures, including improper use of authority
- Any of the above is being, or is likely to be, deliberately concealed
Why have a whistleblowing process?
All organisations face the risk of activities going wrong from time to time, or of unknowingly harbouring bad practices. We ask that persons with concerns about any aspect of Restless Development’s work are encouraged to speak out and express serious concerns they might have.
The aim of the whistleblowing process is to provide a channel for people to raise concerns that they may have about the organisation which they do not feel comfortable raising through relevant leads / contacts within the agency. We recognise that there may be circumstances whereby raising concerns which relevant teams / leads may not be practical. As a result we sometimes receive partial disclosures which are difficult to track or to follow-up. The whistleblowing process provides a safe and confidential means to raise concerns outside of the main reporting lines.
What protection do people have if they make a complaint?
Whistleblowers in the UK are protected under law by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998. We apply this standard to all our Hubs. This gives protection to people who raise an issue provided that:
• They have reasonable grounds for raising a concern
• The concern is raised in good faith
• They believe that the disclosure is in the public interest
Statutory protection only extends to disclosures made relating to breaches of law, not breaches of values or morality. In practice this is a fine line and the Restless policy provides protection for all those making a disclosure in good faith. This protection does not extend to those making deliberately malicious disclosures. These standards are extended to any person raising a concern in good faith globally.
How will we deal with malicious disclosures?
We may receive malicious disclosures. Judgement will be needed to differentiate between genuine errors and malicious behaviour. If evidence is found that the disclosure is malicious then we will take action.
Confidentiality
Every effort will be made to keep the identity of an individual who raises a concern under this policy confidential, at least until any formal investigation is underway.
If it is necessary for you to participate in an investigation, the fact that you made the original disclosure will, so far as is reasonably possible, be kept confidential and all reasonable steps taken to protect you from victimisation or detriment as a result of having made a disclosure.
In order not to jeopardise the investigation, you will also be expected to keep the fact that you have raised a concern, its nature and the identity of those possibly involved, confidential.
There may, however, be circumstances in which, because of the nature of the investigation or disclosure, it will be necessary to disclose your identity.
If you have a concern
Please send an email confidentially to confidential@restlessdevelopment.org
