Government proposals on whistleblowing could give ‘im­proper bargaining power’ to claimants and allow serious allegations to escape investigation, employment lawyers have warned.

Under proposals contained in a Department for Business Innovation & Skills consultation, whistleblowing claimants would be able to decide whether the employment tribunal should forward their allegations of wrongdoing by their employer to the relevant regulator.

Employment Lawyers Association (ELA) spokeswoman Emma Burrows said this would give whistleblowing claimants ‘improper bargaining power’ and could be used as ‘leverage to get a higher financial settlement than they would otherwise expect’, in return for not pursuing a serious allegation. It could also mean that serious claims of corruption would never reach the regulator.

The ELA also said that an alternative proposal requiring employment tribunals to decide which parts of the whistleblowing claim to forward to which regulator would ‘leave tribunals overburdened’.