Speak Up FAQ
Answers to the questions people ask when raising a concern through Speak Up,
handling one as an adviser, or setting the channel up.
For what the app is and how the pieces fit together, see the
Speak Up Overview.
Reporting a concern
Is my report really anonymous?
Yes, if you choose Anonymous — no identity is stored, you keep a reference code. No account, name or user reference is saved against the report, and the app refuses to store one. Every reply you send is stored with no author, so nobody can work out who wrote it later.
I lost my reference code — can I get another one?
No. The code is shown once, on the screen immediately after you submit, and it cannot be re-issued or looked up. Copy it somewhere safe at that moment. If you lose it on an anonymous report, submit a new report and say in it that an earlier one exists.
Who actually reads what I write?
Only the designated adviser panel your organisation has named, plus anyone a panel member explicitly grants access to that single report. No administrator screen opens a report. Every time someone opens a report body it is recorded, including who and when.
If I choose Confidential, who sees my name?
Only the adviser panel. A panel member can bring someone else into your report — an investigator or a specialist. That person sees the report but not your name; they are shown “Confidential reporter”. Choosing Open — you report under your own name is the only option that shares your name more widely.
How long before someone responds to my report?
Your organisation must acknowledge it within its acknowledgement window, at most 7 days. It must then give you feedback on the outcome within at most 3 months. Both clocks start automatically and the panel is alerted when either is missed. Check progress any time with your reference code.
I reported anonymously but nothing shows under My Reports — is it lost?
It isn’t lost. My Reports lists only reports you filed while signed in under Confidential or Named, because those are the only ones that carry your identity. An anonymous report deliberately has no link to your account, so use Check a Report and your reference code instead.
Can I report if I’ve left the company or I’m a contractor?
Yes, if your organisation has switched on its public reporting page. That page needs no account and takes anonymous reports only. You get a reference code the same way, and return to the same page to read replies. Ask the organisation for the address, or look for it on a notice at your site.
Handling a case
This report seems to be about me — what should I do?
Step away from it using Recuse on the case page. Recusing is immediate and permanent: you lose the case, its thread and its evidence, and it disappears from your Cases list. If you are the last adviser who could still handle that case, the app refuses the recusal rather than leave the report with nobody.
Can I bring a colleague into one case without adding them to the panel?
Yes — use Case Access on the case page to grant that one person access. Viewer can read the case and its thread and take no action; Investigator can also post to the reporter’s thread as the panel. You can set an expiry date, and you can revoke a grant at any time.
Why can’t I close this case?
Because it has already been referred, or already closed. A case referred for handling elsewhere reaches its final state at the moment of referral, so closing it afterwards would record the outcome twice. The refusal message on the case page names which of the two applies.
Why can’t I attach evidence to this case?
Because the case is no longer open, or its content has already been removed under the retention policy. Evidence can only be added while a case is open, and only by panel members and Investigator grantees. Photos you do attach have their location and camera details stripped automatically, so an anonymous reporter is never exposed by a file.
Why did a case disappear from my Cases list?
Three things remove it: you recused yourself, your per-case grant was revoked or expired, or you left the adviser panel group. Recusal is the only one that cannot be undone. If a case you expect is missing and none of those apply, ask an administrator whether the panel group has changed.
Setting up the channel
I turned Speak Up on, but reporters are told it isn’t accepting reports — why?
Because no usable adviser panel is designated, and the app deliberately refuses reports it has nobody to give them to. Three states cause it: no Panel group chosen, the chosen group has no members in it, or the group reaches too much of the company. Open Speak Up settings — the panel card names which one applies.
Why can’t I choose “All Employees” as the adviser panel?
Because a panel that is most of the company is not a panel. It would give nearly every employee read access to every disclosure, including its subject. A group of 10 people or fewer is always accepted; above that, it must reach fewer than half the active people in your business.
Can administrators read reports?
Not through any administrator screen — case access comes only from panel membership or a per-case grant. The honest caveat: choosing the panel group is an administrator setting, so an administrator who designates a group containing themselves becomes an adviser. Choosing the group is recorded in the audit log. Adding or removing people inside that group is not, so review its membership just as carefully.
How do I open the public reporting page for contractors and ex-employees?
Switch on the Speak Up public portal in your tenant’s public portal settings. Once it is on, anyone with the address can file an anonymous report with no account. Switching it back off closes new submissions but keeps the status page working for people who already hold a reference code.
What are the limits on the clocks and the retention period?
| Setting | Accepts | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Acknowledgement window (days) | 1–7 | 7 |
| Feedback window (days) | 1–90 | 90 |
| Retention after closure (months) | 1–240 | 60 |
A value outside a range is pulled back into it rather than honoured. The feedback deadline is additionally capped at three calendar months from the acknowledgement, which can be a day earlier than 90 days.
What happens to a report when the retention period ends?
An automatic purge clears the report text, the whole message thread and any attached evidence, and switches off any remaining per-case access. What survives is the minimal register row an auditor needs: reference code, category, dates, status and outcome. The record of what happened and when also stays, with its details blanked. Nothing that was removed is recoverable afterwards.
More help
- Speak Up Overview
- Check a Report in Speak Up — follow any report with its reference code
- Speak Up settings — panel, reporting modes, clocks, retention and the register
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