Civil Service Commission outlines its role at the Cabinet Office Whistleblowing Conference 2026

On Wednesday 1 July 2026, the Cabinet Office held its annual Civil Service Whistleblowing Conference, with an audience of over 100 attendees from across the Civil Service. The event focused on embedding best practices and fostering psychological safety in relation to speaking up.

As part of the agenda, the Civil Service Commission team presented an outline of its role in considering complaints under the Civil Service Code as outlined in the Constitutional Reform and Governance (CRaG) Act 2010. 

The Commission team outlined the Code’s core values of integrity, honesty, objectivity, and impartiality. It highlighted that complaints under the Code must first be raised through the individual department’s internal procedures before being referred to the Commission, and detailed the specific criteria used to determine whether a case falls inside its remit. 

These are:

• The individual must be a civil servant raising a complaint relating to an instance where they have reason to believe:
  • They are being or have been required to act in a way that conflicts with the Code, or
  • That another civil servant is acting or has acted in a way that conflicts with the Code.
• The conduct raised must have a public interest dimension. This requires an individual to show that the conduct relates to the ‘outward-facing’ roles of civil servants performing their public duty.

The Commission is not a designated whistleblowing body under the Employment Rights Act 1996, meaning direct disclosures to the Commission do not carry statutory protections.

The Civil Service Commission will continue to share its work to promote the Code to help civil servants understand the Commission’s role in Code complaints. 

You can find transparency data and more information about the Commission’s role in handling Civil Service Code complaints here.