Mr M Paton v The Chief Constable of the Police Service of Scotland — 2025

The claimant's ET1 initially referred to whistleblowing and race discrimination, then the discrimination element was amended to sex discrimination. The judgment records that the sex discrimination complaint was later withdrawn and dismissed on 13 February 2025. The remaining issue at this hearing was the whistleblowing complaint against the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Scotland.

The tribunal held that the claimant did not make a protected disclosure at the 27 April 2022 meeting in Perth. It found that he expressed opinions about recruitment, promotion and group identity, but that what he said lacked sufficient factual content and specificity to amount to information tending to show a matter within section 43B ERA 1996. By contrast, the April 2023 grievance did contain a protected disclosure: the FOI Data section had sufficient factual content and specificity, and the tribunal found the claimant genuinely and reasonably believed it was in the public interest and capable of tending to show a possible misapplication of the Equality Act 2010 in recruitment and promotion.

The tribunal nevertheless dismissed the whistleblowing claim as out of time. It treated the permanent withdrawal of firearms authorisation, the changes in work location and job role, and the grievance-related complaints as one-off acts rather than continuing acts. It held that the permanent withdrawal decision was a once-and-for-all act dated 17 November 2022, that the location and role changes were out of time from 18 July 2022, and that the grievance-related complaints were out of time from 6 December 2023, even allowing for early conciliation. The tribunal concluded it had no jurisdiction under the ERA 1996 time limits and dismissed all remaining claims.