Duty of care / anonymity statement

 

The ICR’s Report + Support platform provides staff, students and visitors a way to report concerns about inappropriate or unacceptable behaviour anonymously. 

 

Reports submitted anonymously cannot in any way be used to identify who submitted the report.

 

You may also choose to provide your name and contact details so that you can be offered support. If you provide your contact details, we will discuss with you how you wish to proceed. This may include taking no further action, taking informal action, or taking formal action under the relevant ICR policies.

 

If you submit a report with your name and contact details, no action will be taken without your consent, unless:

 

·       the behaviour you have reported may put you or others at risk of harm, or

·       if it may constitute a criminal offence, or

·       if it relates to potential radicalisation.

 

In such cases, we may need to report the matter to Security, Site Management, or Health and Safety colleagues, to the police, or to the ICR’s Prevent Team under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act (CTSA) 2015.

 

Please note that concerns regarding our Prevent Duty should be raised via the Prevent: Referral of Concerns process.

 

 

Anonymous reports that contain allegations against named individuals will be redacted and names will be replaced by reference numbers. This gives protection to those who may be the subject of a false or vexatious allegation but will still allow the ICR to detect where patterns or trends may be emerging, for example where the same person is named in several reports.

 

 

Information contained in an anonymous report will be treated in confidence and disclosed on a “need to know” basis only.

 

We are unable to provide you with direct support in relation to the incident or behaviour.

 

There are certain circumstances in which the ICR may take steps (such as those listed in the Introduction above) even if you do not wish to take your report further. This is usually where there are specific concerns about someone’s behaviour.

 

If you choose to report anonymously, please ensure you do not include any information that may identify you. You should also consider whether naming someone else in an anonymous report may also lead to you being identifiable, for example if you are one of a small number of people who reports to a particular line manager or supervisor. You can provide as much or as little information as you feel appropriate. It is more important to provide as much detail as possible about the incident or the behaviour, than about yourself if you are reporting anonymously.

 

Equality data, or questions about protected characteristics, such as gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity etc are optional, as are many of the free text boxes.

 

Any responses that are mandatory have options you can select such as “Prefer not to say”.

 

Information relating to someone’s criminal convictions or past offences, including alleged offences, must not be included in any report, whether submitted anonymously or otherwise.

 

Information that you provide through an anonymous report will be used for statistical purposes and to inform preventative action at work.

 

 

Where you provide your contact details when submitting a report, the information will usually only disclose information to specific individuals within HR or Registry who are assigned to review your report and contact you to discuss how you wish to progress the matter and offer you support.

 

There are certain circumstances in which the ICR may take steps (such as those listed in the Introduction above) even if you do not wish to take your report further. This is usually where there are specific concerns about someone’s behaviour.

 

The content of named reports made via the Report + Support platform is not routinely used in investigations or in processes in relation to policies such as the Disciplinary Policy, Grievance Policy or Challenging Bullying and Harassment Policy. This is because the platform is intended to provide staff, students and visitors with a portal to report concerns and seek support in respect of issues such as bullying, harassment, sexual misconduct and other forms of inappropriate or unacceptable behaviour. It it is not intended to be used as a case management system for recording and managing formal complaints under the relevant ICR policy. 

 

If you wish your complaint to be investigated through a formal ICR procedure it may be necessary to submit further information using the appropriate forms as part of the relevant policy.

 

Where disclosure of the initial named report may be necessary as part of an investigation or formal procedure, we will normally notify you prior to disclosure. You will be given the opportunity to discuss the reasons for the disclosure and to raise any objections that you wish to be considered.

 

 

If the matter is investigated, one of the possible outcomes is that it may proceed to a Disciplinary Hearing. A copy of your report will not routinely be submitted as evidence to the Disciplinary Hearing Panel. However there may be limited circumstances in which your report may need to be disclosed. For example, if the subject of the complaint or their advisers have obtained part of your initial report through a Data Subject Access Request and has identified information in the initial report that is inconsistent or otherwise conflicts with what you have included in your formal report.

 

 

The ICR tries to resolve complaints internally via its own policies and procedures. If a claim is brought against the ICR or against any of its employees then there are specific rules that the ICR has to follow concerning the documents it needs to provide to the person who instigated the litigation. This is known as “disclosure”. A copy of the initial report that you made may be disclosed to the person bringing the claim, also referred to as the claimant.

 

 

Under data protection laws, individuals are able to make a subject access request (SAR) to obtain data held by the ICR about them.

 

If you make a SAR that includes a request that covers your named report, you will receive a copy of your personal data in your report.

 

If the subject of your complaint makes a SAR and the scope of their request covers their personal data in your report, then we are legally obliged to share this. This legal obligation would arise where you have submitted a named report but could also arise where you have reported anonymously but named or clearly identified the subject of your complaint in your report and we have not redacted their name or the identifying information due to the incident or pattern of behaviour reported giving rise to a safeguarding risk. The subject of your complaint would not be entitled to receive details of your name although it is possible that they may be able to identify you when we provide their data. For example, if a specific event or incident is described in the report and the individual is able to guess your identity from this information.

 

Our Information Governance team will try to balance our aim of protecting your confidentiality with the other person’s right to receive their personal data. When your personal data is inextricably linked with the personal data of the subject of the complaint then the ICR will apply the rules around mixed data. These rules can be helpful in allowing the ICR to protect your confidentiality but they do not provide an absolute guarantee that your report can be kept confidential.

 

In addition to being able to request the personal data in the report, both you and the subject of the complaint can request your personal data in any correspondence and documents (whether electronic or hard copy) created following your initial report that is held by the ICR.

 

 

Please refer to the ICR’s Information Governance pages on Nexus or email the ICR’s Data Protection Officer.