Sunderland-based whistleblowing specialist expands as more businesses empower staff to report wrongdoing

Rising awareness and demand for whistleblowing services is driving the growth of a specialist UK hotline provider based in the North East. Safecall has just relocated to larger premises in Sunderland (RTC Loftus House, Colima Avenue) to accommodate further growth and recruitment

The company has doubled its office space and reported its busiest year securing more than 150 new clients. Staffing is set to increase the next 12 months. Safecall is confident of almost doubling revenues by 2024, which would represent around 60 per cent growth in three years.

While legislation and compliance are among the drivers of change, many businesses and organisations see that whistleblowing establishes an improved workplace, where employees are respected which has the added benefit of improving overall wellbeing.

More employees are being encouraged and empowered to do the right thing and report wrongdoing at work; likewise, more employers are recognising the ethical benefits of supporting staff to report wrongdoing safely.

For Sunderland-based Safecall an independent, specialist whistleblowing and compliance services provider the changed landscape has accelerated interest in their services in recent years. During the pandemic the company’s client base grew and in 2021 Safecall received thousands of concerned calls and enquiries from 108 countries.

Joanna Lewis, MD at Safecall, said: “It’s been a busy period for us. The pandemic seems to have accelerated different patterns of working and behaviour. This, in turn, has made more employers look at culture change and that has prompted greater interest and use of whistleblowing services.

“More companies and organisations see the benefits of creating a safe space for employees to live and work. Employers are increasingly seeing how such services protect the integrity of an organisation as well as the reputation of a brand.

“Safecall has seen an increase in UK enquiries. We have also seen growth in new clients across Europe and in the Middle East and Far East. There has been an increased number of clients in financial services, insurance, healthcare and construction.”

The company provides services from an outsourced whistleblowing hotline to training and bespoke investigations to a wide range of clients in multiple sectors. This ranges from banking and finance, through to food processing and wholesale, construction, manufacturing, retail, and technology to the non-profit sector.

A review of activities during 2021 reveals that concerns reported to Safecall ranged from unfair treatment in a retail store, health and safety matters across different sectors, to a complex fraud in the banking sector.

Joanna Lewis added: “The types of issues reported to our helpline or online changed year-on-year with a huge increase of concerns relating to general safety with reports of corruption and substance abuse down. Health and safety reports remain higher than in previous years and human resource concerns continue to increase.”