With effect from 1 October 2009, the FRC and three of its Operating Bodies, the Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board (AADB), the Financial Reporting Review Panel (FRRP), and the Professional Oversight Board (POB), have been added to the list of bodies to which employees can responsibly disclose information under the "whistle blowing" provisions of the Employment Rights Act (1996).
The Act protects workers from any detrimental treatment from their employer if, in the public interest, they make a disclosure of wrongdoing to specified bodies.
The Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons) (Amendment) Order 2009 means that individuals will now be protected if they make a qualifying disclosure in good faith to the FRC, the AADB, the FRRP and the POB - provided that they reasonably believe that the information disclosed is substantially true and that the wrongdoing falls within the scope of the FRC's responsibilities.