Raising concerns and whistleblowing

Whistleblowing

The whistleblowing procedure for the Council sets out the framework for dealing with allegations of illegal and improper conduct. This is included within Annex 19 of the Council’s constitution and it includes a section to address concerns within schools.

Hertfordshire County Council: Constitution

The Council’s whistleblowing procedure outlines that initially, individuals employed or working in maintained schools (e.g. community schools, community special schools, pupil referral units, voluntary controlled schools and maintained nursery schools) should raise their concerns with the school using the school’s own whistleblowing policy and reporting arrangements rather than directly with the County Council. If the employee, however, has a concern which they feel they cannot discuss with the management of the school or have good reason to consider that their complaint or disclosure will not be properly handled, then they may report their concerns direct to the County Council or prescribed regulator.

Raising concerns

If a school have any concerns regarding internal control processes, or identifies an instance where they believe further investigation is warranted, there are a number of steps the school can take:

Requesting an audit

There is a small amount of time reserved each year within the annual audit plan to consider requests from schools who would like to receive an audit of their financial practices. This could be where schools have specific concerns around their financial processes, have recently had a change in key staff members (e.g. a new Headteacher or School Business Manager), or Governors have concerns over specific processes.

As the amount of time available for these reviews is small, we cannot guarantee to complete an audit at each school that requests one, but all requests will be considered using a risk-based approach.

If you would like to request an audit, the Chair of Governors or Headteacher should email sias@hertfordshire.gov.uk along with any specific concerns outlining why the school have requested an audit.

Investigations

Where concerns have been raised regarding a school, Children’s Services may commission an investigation to take place. In these instances, SIAS retain the right to obtain the required information from the school, and are not required to provide notice of any audit visits related to investigations in order to maintain the integrity of key evidence.