A report from Blueprint for Free Speech and Thomson Reuters Foundation has found that the UK’s much-praised whistleblower law fails to adequately protect whistleblowers from reprisals.

The report found that the law lacks basic retaliation protections, does not penalize managers who victimize whistleblowers, and contains only about one-third of basic international standards.

The law also permits employees to engage in character assassination of whistleblowers, harming their chances of winning unfair dismissal cases in court.

Blueprint and Thomson Reuters are calling for extensive reforms to the  Public Interest Disclosure Act (PIDA), which for nearly 20 years has been falsely characterized — even by some whistleblower advocates — as the gold standard.

“Protecting Whistleblowers in the UK: A New Blueprint” shows that PIDA lacks specific measures to shield employees from being fired and harassed if they report crime or corruption occurring in their workplace.

It finds that PIDA is not effective in stopping whistleblowers from being targeted, and lacks penalties for managers and co-workers who retaliate against whistleblowers. In practice, it requires whistleblowers to be victimized before they can act on their rights and seek protections.

These failings are due to gaps in the law itself.

The report analyzed PIDA and found it scored 38.5 out of a possible 104 points (37%) when measured against 26 internationally recognized whistleblower protection standards. The report warns against modelling draft legislation on the existing UK laws without modifying to compensate for its flaws.

According to the report, unfair dismissal cases taken to Employment Tribunals typically take 20 months to reach a decision, and median compensation totals £17,422.

The report outlines 20 reforms which would help to improve the situation for whistleblowers in the UK. It provides a blueprint for countries looking to draft best practice legislation.