The figures – which were requested by Martin Casimir, the managing director of business publishing house Bloomsbury Professional, and reported in today’s Financial Times – reveal that the British public response to the hotline has been far greater than expected, since it was set up in 2005.
Just over 74,000 calls were made last year. While this represented a fall of about 9% from 2010, according to the FT, it nevertheless equated to some 300 calls every working day in 2011.
Casimir said the volume of calls was “staggering” and showed that stagnating incomes coupled with rising tax burdens, have strengthened the view that “everyone should pay their fair share”.
As International Adviser reported in November, the UK’s Serious Fraud Office hopes to achieve success with a similar whistleblower hotline, which is designed to uncover fraud and bribery.
