UK Public Interest Disclosure Act — protected disclosure to a prescribed person
- Type
- Public reporting channel
- Place
- United Kingdom — UK
- Last checked
- 2026-09-22
- Next check due
- 2027-03-21
Ways to reach them
- Submission page
- Homepage
What it does
Qualifying disclosures by workers, in the public interest, to a prescribed person with responsibility for the relevant subject matter — giving statutory protection against detriment and dismissal.
Honest assessment
Meaningful but reactive: PIDA does not stop retaliation, it gives you a claim after it happens. The 2026 addition of DSIT is a genuine and underpublicised development, creating for the first time a UK prescribed route for technology-policy disclosures. Take legal advice on which prescribed person covers your concern before disclosing — getting this wrong forfeits the protection.
How to file
Identify the correct prescribed person for the subject matter and disclose to them. Relevant to AI: the Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons) (Amendment) Order 2026 (SI 2026/478), in force 2 June 2026, added the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology as a prescribed person — the first explicitly AI/digital-policy route — and expanded the scope for existing regulators including Ofcom and the FCA. The ICO remains prescribed for data protection matters.
Format
Per the receiving regulator's whistleblowing process (e.g. Ofcom's protected disclosure route, ICO's whistleblowing disclosures page).
Timing
Rolling. Employment tribunal claims have short deadlines — typically 3 months less one day.
What happens after
The prescribed person considers the disclosure; prescribed persons must report annually on disclosures received. Protection is enforced retrospectively via employment tribunal if you suffer detriment.
What it accepts
Qualifying disclosures by workers, in the public interest, to a prescribed person with responsibility for the relevant subject matter — giving statutory protection against detriment and dismissal.
What it does not accept
Disclosures to a body that is not prescribed for that subject matter do not attract the same protection. This is the most common and most costly error.
Operated by
Prescribed persons listed in secondary legislation; PIDA 1998 as amended