Whistleblowing: reporting serious wrongdoing to the Environment Agency
You can report serious concerns about your employer to us, if you suspect wrongdoing in an area we regulate.
Applies to England
Reporting serious wrongdoing by your employer is known as ‘whistleblowing’. The Environment Agency is designated as a prescribed person for whistleblowing. This means you can report serious environmental wrongdoing by your employer to us in confidence. Your report must be in the public interest and show that environmental damage or a criminal offence:
- has happened
- is happening
- is likely to happen
You can come to us when you are unable to report wrongdoing to your employer. This may be because you have tried previously or are unhappy with the outcome.
You can raise a serious concern with us about a company of which you are a current or recent worker. All information provided to us is handled in:
- confidence
- accordance with our obligations under data protection legislation
Who you can report
You can make a whistleblowing report to us about serious environmental damage regarding a company.
This applies if you work for a:
- water company
- waste company
- nuclear company
- fisheries business
- farm or agricultural business
- chemical industry
- business causing an impact on the environment
- business regulated by us
Whistleblowing is not suitable for reporting emergencies or environmental incidents that require an immediate or rapid response. Report these to the incident hotline.
Protecting whistleblowers
We commit to keeping your identity confidential, including from your employer, unless you waive this.
Whistleblowers are protected by law and there is specific government guidance for employees. You should not be treated unfairly or lose your job because you ‘blow the whistle’.
When reporting your concern, you must believe it is substantially true and in the public interest. This means it must affect others, for example the general public.
To gain protection, the disclosure must be related to the environment and include one or more of the following:
- a criminal offence
- risk of or actual damage
- a company is breaking the law in connection with its statutory obligations
- covering up any wrongdoing
If you are unsure whether the disclosure is protected, you should seek independent advice.
Information you should provide
Tell us:
- how we can contact you
- a description of the issue
- whether there is a current investigation
We may contact you if we need more information.
Do not try to gather more supporting evidence without contacting us first. Doing as this can put you at risk and could invalidate our own investigations.
Anonymous reports
Whilst we accept anonymous reports, it limits our ability to investigate and provide feedback.
How to report
We may contact you at a later date if you have material you wish to supply.
This service is not for Environment Agency employees and workers.
Get independent advice
If you need independent advice about whistleblowing contact Protect, a specialist whistleblowing charity. They can help explain:
- what types of wrongdoing you can report
- your legal rights
- next steps if you decide to report something
Alternatively, you can also get advice from Citizens Advice, your trade union or a solicitor.
Raising other concerns
You can also tell:
- Ofwat - if you work in the water and sewerage sector and have information or concerns about improper practices in the company you work for
- Office for Environmental Protection - if you think a public authority has broken environmental law
- the police - about a crime or if you’re worried about someone’s safety or if you suspect terrorist activity
- the Health and Safety Executive - if you are concerned about someone’s health and safety at work
- HMRC - if you have concerns about tax, like money laundering or tax evasion
- Action Fraud - if you suspect fraud
If you work for the Environment Agency
If you work for us, follow the internal whistleblowing policy.
Environment Agency’s annual whistleblowing reports
We have an obligation to act on third party disclosures made to us about environmental malpractice that are in the public interest. Read our annual whistleblowing reports.
Last updated 25 April 2024 + show all updates
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Updated with link to an online form for reporting a serious concern.
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First published.