Employment Appeal Tribunal Dismisses Whistleblowing Claim Against NHS Trust
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has dismissed a former employee's appeal, ruling that tribunal errors did not impact the final decision on whistleblowing claims.
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Tribunal Findings on Protected Disclosures
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has dismissed the appeal of Miss Rose Southam regarding her claims of detrimental treatment and constructive unfair dismissal against Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. While the EAT acknowledged that the original tribunal made errors in its assessment of two claimed protected disclosures, these errors were ultimately deemed immaterial to the case's final outcome.
Miss Southam, a former Lead Referral Coordinator, had alleged that she was subjected to detriments after making multiple protected disclosures. Although the original tribunal found that some of her communications did qualify as protected disclosures, it concluded that her claims of mistreatment were not linked to these reports.
Analysis of the Appeal
His Honour Judge Auerbach addressed two specific grounds of appeal concerning disclosures labelled as PD3 and PD9. The appellant argued that the tribunal failed to properly account for evidence in a December 2017 note. The EAT agreed that the original tribunal did not sufficiently explain its reasoning for dismissing these as protected disclosures.
However, the EAT's decision turned on whether these errors could have changed the outcome of the complaints. The respondent successfully argued that for the remaining relevant complaints, such as the denial of supervision meetings and an unsuccessful job application, the tribunal had already made firm, positive findings regarding the actual reasons for the employer's conduct.
Conclusion
The EAT concluded that the tribunal's previous findings left no room for the argument that the claimant's protected disclosures had materially influenced the employer's decisions. Consequently, the tribunal's findings on the reasons for the alleged detriments remained sound, and the appeal against both the original and reconsideration decisions was dismissed.
Read the entire judgment here: Southam v Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust [2026] EAT 150
