THE Sellafield nuclear site has seen a 711 per cent increase in spending to deal with claims by employees that it acted unlawfully, an investigation has revealed.

Sellafield Ltd, which employs around 10,000 people at its Seascale plant, has spent more than a quarter of a million pounds on external legal fees to deal with matters taken by staff to employment tribunal since 2015/16.

The spend has increased from around £12,900 in 2015/16 to more than £105,000 in 2018/19. Between April and October of this year the company spent £31,487.

These figures, which were obtained through a Freedom of Information request by The Whitehaven News, represent the cash spent in external legal fees related to all employment law matters which were lodged at the employment tribunal.

Practices at the plant came under fire after an internal employee survey carried out in late 2017 revealed that one in four members of staff believed bullying was tolerated at the site.

Sellafield launched a campaign to tackle the malpractice earlier this year and a more recent survey carried out in 2018, revealed that just over half (54 per cent) of employees believe they are “able to speak out about doing the right thing without fear of reprisal.”

This is a drop of 11 per cent from the previous survey the firm sent to all of its employees two years earlier.

A Sellafield Ltd spokesman said: “We take the issue of bullying and harassment extremely seriously. We have consistently acknowledged that in the past, employees did not have confidence that concerns would be dealt with. That’s why we launched a campaign in January 2019 to draw a line under bullying and harassment and urge people to report inappropriate behaviour.”

The Government-run Nuclear Decommissioning Authority oversees the work Sellafield does and invests £2 billion of its annual budget at Sellafield.

The NDA’s budget is a combination of government funding and income from its commercial assets.

The authority said it did not hold a breakdown of how much money it spent in legal fees to deal with matters referred to the employment tribunal.

Publicly available accounts show that this year the NDA paid more than half a million pounds (£580,779.58) to eight firms in legal fees in six months (between April and October).

A spokesman for the NDA said: “This figure relates to spend, by the NDA corporate centre, on legal advice relating to all our activities. The NDA’s remit includes decommissioning work on 17 nuclear sites and operation of our specialist subsidiaries.”

Case study: crowdfunding to help former contractor fight her case

A FORMER Sellafield contractor is preparing to battle her case against the nuclear firm at an employment tribunal.

Alison McDermott launched a crowdfunding page earlier this year after submitting a whistleblowing and victimisation claim against Sellafield and the NDA.

Ms McDermott claims that her contract was terminated after she raised concerns about employees being abused and the firm’s top bosses’ failure to take action.

Her page on the site Crowdjustice raised more than £15,000 to help her pay for legal fees ahead of the case being heard in July.

Writing on the page, she said: “As I hope I have managed to convey, this case is about getting justice. It is about speaking out for the employees who work there, for the wider public interest and for the right to speak up and not be victimised. Your support will help me to speak up and have a voice for all these key issues.

“This case is also about ensuring that leaders are held to account for their actions and inaction - not in a vindictive way but so that lessons can be learned for current and future employees. I am determined to keep going and press ahead and seek justice.”

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) confirmed that Ms McDermott applied for funding to them to help her deal with her case, but the request was rejected.

The NDA paid more than £140,000 to legal firm Pinsent Mason between April and October of this year.

It has confirmed that Pinsent Mason is acting for it in the case of Ms McDermott, but it is not known how much of that sum related to the employment tribunal case.

David Isaac, chair of the EHRC, is a partner in Pinsent Mason.

A spokesman for the EHRC said: “We do not comment on the details of individual applications for funding. After going through our usual process, it was determined this case did not meet our funding criteria. At no point was David Isaac or the board involved in this decision.

“We are an independent regulator and take our impartiality very seriously.

“We have robust procedures and policies in place to manage conflicts of interests or perceived conflicts of interests.”

An NDA spokesman said: “Pinsent Masons are one of the law firms on NDA’s panel of legal advisors. Spend amongst our panel firms relates to all aspects of our legal advice regarding all our activities – the NDA’s remit includes decommissioning work at 17 nuclear sites the and operation of our specialist subsidiaries.”

Extent of bully claims revealed

Information obtained through the Freedom of Information request revealed that Sellafield Ltd has dealt with 61 bullying, harassment or discrimination complaints since 2015.

Five employees referred cases of alleged bullying, harassment or discrimination to employment tribunals since 2017.

Two cases are still ongoing, while three were withdrawn by the employees.

All the other complaints were settled using Sellafield Ltd’s internal process.

Results of the 2018 employee engagement survey carried out by Sellafield, to which almost 4,800 members of staff responded to, shows that almost three quarters (70 per cent) of workers have not seen evidence of the organisation changing for the better.

And only 56 per cent of respondents would recommend Sellafield as a great place to work.

However, this was carried out before the launch of the company’s campaign to tackle bullying.

A Sellafield Ltd spokesman said: “Because the campaign encouraged people to come forward, we expected there to be a rise in reported cases.

“For this reason we provided additional support for employees and managers including increased resources for mediation, counselling, and our confidential employee assistance line.

“We are starting to see an impact from this work. More cases have been reported, they are being investigated more quickly, and actions are being taken.

“We make no apologies for confronting this difficult issue openly and honestly.

“We are committed to creating a culture at Sellafield where everyone feels included, respected, and valued.”

The number of complaints revealed through a Freedom Of Information request does not include those submitted by contractors, as Sellafield Ltd said it did not hold a record of those cases.

However other NDA-managed sites were able to provide the figures.

Figures of bullying, discrimination and harassment complaints in other NDA-managed sites in the country are as follows:

- Dounreay: 14 complaints by members of staff between 2015/16 and 2018/19. One case was referred to tribunal but was settled by ACAS before reaching that stage. The firm spent almost £3,000 in legal fees to deal with the case. In the same period, two complaints were submitted by contractors, none of which were heard at an employment tribunal.

- Low Level Waste Repository: Four complaints by members of staff between 2015/16 and 2018/19, one of which was settled by ACAS. One complaint was submitted by a contractor. The firm spent around £500 in 2015/16 in external professional advice to deal with a complaint.

- Magnox, which manages 12 sites across the UK, received 12 complaints by staff between 2016/17 and 2018/19. Of two complaints being referred to the employment tribunal in 2015/16, one was settled before the hearing and the judge found in favour of the other complainant, which was for discrimination, and compensation was awarded to the complainant.

An NDA spokesman said: “We actively encourage people to come forward with their concerns and we take the investigations extremely seriously. Any employee grievances, including any claims of bullying and harassment, are a concern for us and we are committed to addressing them.

“Since 2018 we have refreshed our policies and processes and carried out a series of initiatives and ‘respect at work’ training sessions – with the aim of eradicating bullying and harassment. Building a respectful, supportive, diverse and inclusive culture is the key to tackling bullying and harassment and making the NDA a great place to work.

“We’ve taken some important steps forward, but acknowledge that there is still work to do.”