Feel safe in speaking up
We want everyone who works at Legal & General to feel safe in speaking up about things they have noticed. In the first instance, we encourage our employees to speak with a line manager, Human Resource (HR) business partner, any director, or their Unite or MCF representative (UK only).
Our people can also raise their concern via our whistleblowing channels. This is either by email (whistleblowing@landg.com) or a freephone 0800 number which is published on our employee intranet. External stakeholders, for example, suppliers, customers or other third parties, can also use the email address to report a concern. All concerns can be anonymous and are treated confidentially.
Our whistleblowing policy is proactively communicated to employees, and supported by compulsory training programmes. We do not tolerate retaliation against whistleblowers and any reports of this would be thoroughly investigated and appropriate disciplinary action taken for employees breaching our whistleblowing procedures.
What to look for
Potential wrongdoing in a financial services organisation could take several different forms, such as processes or policy not being adhered to, or if wrongdoing is taking place. We each have a responsibility to raise any queries or concerns we may have at work and encourage our staff to report the following concerns:
- criminal activity
- failure to comply with a legal or professional obligation
- dangers to health and safety
- damage to the environment
- breach of PRA/FCA rules
- breach of L&G’s policies and procedures
- behaviour that harms, or is likely to harm the reputation or financial well-being of the L&G Group
- retaliation against a whistleblower
- deliberate concealment of any of the above
Assessment process
All referrals are assessed within seven days of receipt. Investigations are conducted fairly and impartially and are led by experienced investigators from the Group Financial Crime team or delegated to independent subject matter experts. HR consultants support all whistleblowing investigations to enable swift referrals of any welfare concerns.
The Whistleblowing Oversight Committee, which meets quarterly, oversees the effectiveness of the function and the fair treatment of our referrers. They assess performance using a range of key performance indicators in line with industry peers and track the timely completion of cases against a 60 working-day service level agreement.
Governance
The Whistleblowing Oversight Committee receives reports on all cases which detail the findings and any recommendations. Reports are presented to the Group Board and other boards on an annual basis. In line with regulatory requirements, Philip Broadley, one of our Independent Non-exec Directors, is our Whistleblowing Champion.