Speaking up
1. What this is for
If you see something at PioneerUnion that seems seriously wrong, we want to hear it — even if you are not certain, even if it is awkward, and even if it concerns someone senior.
Most problems are found by someone who noticed something and decided to say so. This page explains how to do that and what protection you have.
2. Who can use it
Anyone. Employees, contractors and agency workers, suppliers and their staff, clients, community members, and members of the public. You do not have to work for us.
3. What to report
Anything that suggests serious wrongdoing or serious risk, including:
- danger to anyone's health or safety, or a safety rule being ignored
- bribery, kickbacks, or improper payments — offered, requested, or paid
- fraud, theft, or false or manipulated records
- forced labour, child labour, retained passports, unpaid or short-paid wages
- harassment, bullying or discrimination
- environmental harm, or breach of a permit or consent
- misuse of personal data, or a data breach being concealed
- false or misleading public statements — to a government, an investor, or in our own reporting
- a conflict of interest that has not been declared
- retaliation against someone who has already spoken up
- a deliberate attempt to hide any of the above
If you are not sure whether something belongs here, report it anyway. Sorting that out is our job, not yours.
4. What this is not for
This is not the route for a personal employment grievance — pay disputes, rotas, performance reviews, a disagreement with a manager. Those go through the HR grievance process, which is faster and better suited to them. If you use this route by mistake we will redirect it, not dismiss it.
5. How to report
Email ding@pioneerunion.com and mark your message “Confidential”. (This is an interim reporting address while a dedicated, access-restricted channel is being established.)
If your concern involves the person who receives those reports, or you would rather it did not reach them, write in confidence — marked “Private & confidential” — to the company’s directors by post at the registered office (available on request via info@pioneerunion.com).
Tell us what happened, where and when, who was involved, and whether anyone else knows. If you have documents, keep them safe — do not remove originals or anything you are not entitled to hold.
6. Anonymous reports
You can report anonymously and we will take it seriously.
We should be straight with you about the trade-off: anonymity limits what we can do. We cannot ask you follow-up questions, cannot tell you the outcome, and sometimes cannot investigate far enough to act. If you can give a way to contact you — even a new email address that is not linked to your name — the report is much more likely to lead somewhere.
7. Confidentiality — what we can and cannot promise
We can promise: we will keep your identity to the smallest number of people needed to look into it. We will not tell the person concerned who reported them. We will ask you before sharing your name more widely.
We cannot promise: absolute secrecy in every circumstance. If a matter goes to the police or a regulator, or into a legal proceeding, a court or an authority may require disclosure. And in a small team, the nature of a concern can sometimes make its source guessable — that is a real risk and we would rather name it than let you discover it later.
If confidentiality is your main worry, say so when you report, and we will talk through how to handle it before we do anything.
8. No retaliation
Nobody who raises a concern in good faith will be dismissed, demoted, disciplined, transferred, have their hours cut, have their contract not renewed, or be treated badly for it. This applies whether or not the concern turns out to be well founded.
“In good faith” means you honestly believed what you reported. It does not mean you have to be right.
Retaliation is itself a disciplinary matter, treated as seriously as the original concern. If you think you are being retaliated against, report that too, through the same channels.
9. What happens after you report
- Acknowledgement — within 5 working days, if we have a way to reach you.
- Assessment — we decide how to handle it: internal review, formal investigation, or referral.
- Investigation — by someone independent of the matter. Not by the person concerned, and not by anyone reporting to them.
- Outcome — we act on what we find, and we tell you that the matter has been concluded and, so far as we properly can, what came of it. There are limits on what we can share about another person's disciplinary outcome; we will tell you where that limit falls rather than going quiet.
- Timing — most matters conclude within 90 days. If it will take longer, we will tell you it is taking longer rather than leaving you without news.
10. Reports made in bad faith
Deliberately false reports made to harm someone are a disciplinary matter. This does not apply to an honest report that turns out to be mistaken — that is exactly what we want people to feel able to make.
11. Going outside the company
Nothing here stops you from reporting to the police, a regulator, or another competent authority, and you do not need our permission to do so. We would usually rather hear it first so we can fix it — but that is a preference, not a condition.
12. Records and review
Reports and their handling are recorded, kept securely with restricted access, and retained only as long as necessary to handle the report and any resulting action. The group board receives a summary of the number and type of reports and how they were resolved, without identifying reporters.
This policy is reviewed at least annually.