A REPORT highlighting the controversial practice of whistleblowing has detailed a number of North-East cases in which workers won complaints against their employers.

The report by the charity Public Concern at Work, which provides a free legal helpline for whistleblowers, says that more than £10m a year is being paid in compensation to staff who are sacked or victimised for exposing malpractice.

More than 1,200 claims have been made across the country, including scores in the North-East, since the introduction of the Public Interest Disclosure Act four years ago. Under the legislation there is no limit on the amount of compensation that can be awarded.

The Act also protects employees from the day they start work.

Successful cases have included that of Tracie Thomas, a paid advocate at the Middlesbrough office of South Tees Advocacy in Mental Health Problems, helping people with mental health difficulties.

Ms Thomas was sacked after raising concerns about the way the voluntary organisation was run, but later won her appeal against dismissal and a five- figure compensation payout.

She was supported by the union Unison which said the Public Interest Disclosure Act "provided essential protection for employees who raise concerns about financial or management practices".

Another case involved that of a manager at Wansbeck Hospital, near Ashington, Northumberland. Frustrated at Northumbria NHS Trust's failure to deal with concerns about the shortage of beds, he wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair, which was published in his local paper. The letter pointed out that elderly patients were being put into gynaecological wards.

The trust gave the manager a final written warning for the letter. This was later ruled illegal by an employment tribunal under the Act.

In February, police fingerprint expert Gail Hunter won more than £61,000 at a remedy hearing in Newcastle after an employment tribunal ruled she had been unfairly dismissed by Durham Police.

Ms Hunter, previously of Consett, County Durham, was sacked after falsifying a date on a fingerprint record, but later blew the whistle, claiming such practices were widespread. She also accused colleagues of bullying and harassment.

The report says that since the Act became law the highest compensation award has been £805,000 with the average just over £100,000.

Guy Dehn, director of Public Concern at Work, said "It's no longer whistleblowers who are paying a heavy price, but those who victimise them.

"With such high awards and with tribunals protecting people who blow the whistle to regulatory bodies and to the media, employers ignore this legislation at their peril."