Anti-Tax Evasion Policy
Raising a concern
12.1 The Council is committed to ensuring that there is a safe, reliable, and confidential way of reporting any suspicious activity, and wants each and every member of staff to know how they can raise concerns.
12.2 All have a responsibility to help detect, prevent and report instances of tax evasion. If you have a concern regarding a suspected instance of tax evasion, please speak up - your information and assistance will help. The sooner it is brought to attention, the sooner it can be resolved.
12.3 There are multiple channels to help raise concerns. Please refer to the Council's Whistleblowing Policy and determine the favoured course of action. Preferably the disclosure will be made and resolved internally (e.g. to a line manager or Head of Service). Secondly, where internal disclosure would not be appropriate, concerns can be raised with the Monitoring Officer, the Director of Finance and Procurement (S151 Officer), SWAP (Internal Audit) or Grant Thornton UK LLP (External Auditor). Raising concerns in these ways may be more likely to be considered reasonable than making disclosures publicly (e.g. to the media). Concerns can be raised anonymously. In the event that an incident of suspected wrong doing is reported, the Council will act as soon as possible to evaluate the situation. It has clearly defined procedures for investigating fraud, misconduct and non-compliance issues and these will be followed in an investigation of this kind. This is easier and quicker if concerns raised are not anonymous.
12.4 Staff who raise concerns or report wrongdoing could understandably be worried about the repercussions. The Council aims to encourage openness and will support anyone who raises a genuine concern in good faith under this policy, even if they turn out to be mistaken. The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA) protects individuals who make certain disclosures of information in the public interest. Our Whistleblowing Policy complies with PIDA. The council is committed to ensuring nobody suffers detrimental treatment through the reporting of a concern in good faith.