RICS is committed to the highest ethical standards and practices and creating a culture where staff feel confident about raising concerns without fear of reprisal. We have now launched a new whistleblowing policy in collaboration with Protect, a UK charity established to provide advice on whistleblowing.
The new Whistleblowing Policy will support and protect our employees across the globe in raising their concerns where the public interest is at stake: risk to the wider public, members and firms, customers, staff or RICS itself. The term ‘whistleblowing’ describes raising serious concerns about malpractice, mistreatment, suspected wrongdoing or danger at work. This could include potential health and safety concerns, financial inaccuracies or breaches of regulation among others.
Louise Archer FRICS, a member of the RICS Governing Council, has been appointed as a Whistleblowing Champion to champion a culture of openness, hear any concerns and help oversee of the effectiveness of our whistleblowing arrangements.
This new policy concludes the implementation of Alison Levitt’s 18 recommendations from last year’s independent external review published in September 2021.