This guide covers England, Wales and Scotland. Employment law differs in Northern Ireland.
In brief: Bullying that starts after you complain about discrimination or raise a whistleblowing concern can be a claim in its own right: victimisation under section 27 of the Equality Act 2010, or detriment under section 47B of the Employment Rights Act 1996. Neither needs qualifying service, both allow injury to feelings awards, and both turn on proving the link.
Last updated: November 2026
By Yerty | This guide was created using analysis of tribunal cases and official ACAS/Gov.uk guidance.
Bullied After Raising a Complaint or Whistleblowing: Victimisation and Detriment
You raised something. A grievance about how a colleague was treated, a complaint about discrimination, a concern about safety or wrongdoing. Afterwards, the treatment changed: you were frozen out, criticised, overloaded, moved, or managed in a way you had never been before.
Bullying with that history is legally different from bullying with no history. If the thing you raised was a protected act or a protected disclosure, the treatment that followed can be a claim, even if the bullying itself has nothing to do with a protected characteristic. This guide explains the two claims, what you have to show, what the published cases say about how they fare, and the time limits.
Important: This guide provides information about employment law in England, Wales and Scotland. Yerty is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. Every situation is different. Victimisation and whistleblowing claims turn on their facts, so consider speaking to a solicitor about yours.
Is bullying after a complaint a claim in itself?
It can be, depending on what you complained about.
Bullying on its own is not a tribunal claim. But the law protects people who raise certain kinds of complaint from being punished for doing so, and bullying is one of the ways that punishment happens. Two statutory protections do the work.
Victimisation, under section 27(1) of the Equality Act 2010:
"A person (A) victimises another person (B) if A subjects B to a detriment because (a) B does a protected act, or (b) A believes that B has done, or may do, a protected act."
Whistleblowing detriment, under section 47B(1) of the Employment Rights Act 1996:
"A worker has the right not to be subjected to any detriment by any act, or any deliberate failure to act, by his employer done on the ground that the worker has made a protected disclosure."
In both, the bullying is the detriment. What you have to prove is the first half: that you did a protected act or made a protected disclosure, and that the bullying happened because of it.
Yerty's review of tribunal judgments that discuss bullying shows how often this pattern reaches the tribunal. 26% of those cases included a victimisation claim and 19% a whistleblowing claim, three to four times the rate in other cases.
What counts as a protected act?
Section 27(2) lists them:
"(a) bringing proceedings under this Act; (b) giving evidence or information in connection with proceedings under this Act; (c) doing any other thing for the purposes of or in connection with this Act; (d) making an allegation (whether or not express) that A or another person has contravened this Act."
In practice the most common protected act is (d): a grievance or complaint, formal or informal, that alleges discrimination or harassment. It does not have to use legal language or name the Act. It does have to allege something that would be a breach of the Equality Act if true, so a complaint about bullying that does not mention any protected characteristic is not a protected act. Supporting a colleague's discrimination complaint, giving a witness statement, or bringing your own claim all qualify.
The complaint does not have to have been right. Section 27(3) removes protection only where the allegation was false and made in bad faith.
What counts as a protected disclosure?
A protected disclosure is a disclosure of information which, in your reasonable belief, is made in the public interest and tends to show one of the matters listed in section 43B of the Employment Rights Act 1996: a criminal offence, a breach of a legal obligation, a miscarriage of justice, danger to health and safety, damage to the environment, or concealment of any of those. It normally has to be made to your employer or another prescribed person.
Two points catch people out. A complaint purely about your own treatment can struggle on the public interest test, though it can pass where others are affected or the matter is serious. And the disclosure needs enough factual content and specificity to be capable of tending to show one of the listed matters; it can be framed as an allegation or a concern, since the courts do not draw a rigid line between "information" and "allegation", but a bare complaint with no facts behind it will not do. Since 6 April 2026 the list in section 43B expressly includes sexual harassment, so a report that sexual harassment has occurred or is likely to occur can be a protected disclosure as well as a protected act.
Yerty's whistleblowing guide goes through the test in detail.
What do you have to show?
Three things in both claims, with the order of proof mattering.
The protected act or disclosure. Date, content, who received it. Written complaints are far easier to prove than conversations.
The detriment. Anything a reasonable worker would consider put them at a disadvantage. Bullying in its ordinary forms qualifies: exclusion, undermining, excessive scrutiny, unjustified criticism, changed duties, a hostile atmosphere. It does not have to cause financial loss.
The link. This is where most claims are decided. For victimisation, the detriment must be "because" of the protected act; for whistleblowing, "on the ground" of the disclosure. The act or disclosure has to be a significant influence on the treatment, not the sole reason. Timing is evidence, not proof: a change in treatment shortly after a complaint invites the question, but the employer will put forward its own explanation, and the tribunal decides which account it believes.
The burden helps you once you get the first two in place. For whistleblowing detriment, section 48(2) says "it is for the employer to show the ground on which any act, or deliberate failure to act, was done". For victimisation, section 136 of the Equality Act shifts the burden to the employer once you have shown facts from which the tribunal could conclude victimisation occurred.
What do tribunals award for victimisation and whistleblowing detriment?
Both claims allow compensation for injury to feelings as well as financial loss, and neither is capped. Injury to feelings follows the Vento bands: for claims presented from 6 April 2026, £1,300 to £12,600 (lower), £12,600 to £37,700 (middle) and £37,700 to £62,900 (upper).
Yerty reviewed published tribunal judgments that discuss bullying, looking at single-claimant cases where compensation was ordered.
Where a victimisation claim succeeded, the median injury to feelings award was £10,000, with half of awards between £6,000 and £17,525, and total compensation across the case had a median of about £18,700. Where a whistleblowing detriment claim succeeded, total compensation had a median of about £14,900, with half of awards between roughly £7,700 and £22,900; the number of itemised injury to feelings awards was too small to report separately.
Across the bullying set as a whole, 94% of injury to feelings awards fell in the lower or middle Vento band. An Acas Code uplift of up to 25% was applied in 19% of itemised awards, most often where the employer mishandled the grievance.
How often do these claims succeed?
Not often, at a reasoned hearing. Within the bullying set, victimisation claims were upheld in 14% of cases and dismissed in 72%. Whistleblowing detriment claims were upheld in 13% and dismissed in 67%, with a higher share withdrawn or struck out. Harassment claims in the same set were upheld in 17%, and constructive dismissal in 25%.
The pattern in the judgments is consistent: claimants usually establish the complaint and the detriment, and the claim fails on causation, because the tribunal accepts the employer's explanation for the treatment. That is why contemporaneous evidence of the link matters more than evidence of the bullying itself.
These are rates among claims that reached a reasoned judgment. Settled cases are not in the set. Full breakdowns are in Yerty's findings on bullying at tribunal.
What evidence matters most?
The evidence that decides these cases is about the link, so that is where to focus.
A dated copy of the complaint or disclosure, and any acknowledgement. A record of how you were treated before it, so the change can be shown. A dated log of each incident after it, with who was present. Anything the employer said about the complaint, including comments that it was unwelcome, disloyal or a nuisance. The employer's handling of the complaint itself: delay, dismissal without investigation, or no outcome. And medical evidence if the treatment affected your health, which supports the injury to feelings element.
If you are still employed, raising a further grievance about the treatment is itself a protected act where the original complaint was about discrimination, and it puts the employer on notice.
How long do you have to act?
For detriments on or after 1 October 2026, the time limit is 6 months minus 1 day. Where the bullying is a series of acts, the clock runs from the last one, so a continuing campaign can bring earlier incidents into time. Detriments before 1 October 2026 keep the previous limit of 3 months minus 1 day.
You must notify Acas before most claims; early conciliation lasts up to 12 weeks and pauses the clock. A grievance does not. Yerty's Acas Early Conciliation guide explains the process.
Neither claim requires any qualifying service. If the retaliation ends in dismissal, a dismissal for whistleblowing is automatically unfair under section 103A with no service requirement, and a dismissal for a protected act is itself victimisation. One much shorter deadline applies in the whistleblowing dismissal case: an application for interim relief, which can keep your pay running until the hearing, must be made within 7 days of the dismissal taking effect.
How Yerty can help
If this is happening to you now, the Yerty Claimant Hub gives you a structured route through a workplace dispute, including a free Workplace Assessment, guided stages and tools for building the chronology these claims depend on.
For how compensation works across every bullying-related claim, see Compensation for Bullying at Work: What You Can Claim and How Much.
Frequently asked questions
Is it victimisation if I'm bullied after making a complaint?
It can be, if the complaint was a protected act: a complaint alleging discrimination or harassment under the Equality Act, or support for someone else's. Bullying that follows a complaint about something other than discrimination is not victimisation, though it may be whistleblowing detriment if the complaint was a protected disclosure.
Does a grievance about bullying count as a protected act?
Only if it alleges a breach of the Equality Act, for example that the bullying was because of your race, sex or disability. A grievance about bullying with no protected characteristic element is not a protected act under section 27(2)(d). The complaint does not have to be legally worded or ultimately upheld.
Can I claim for whistleblowing detriment if I'm still employed?
Yes. Section 47B protects workers from detriment for making a protected disclosure, and there is no requirement to have resigned or been dismissed. Bullying, exclusion, changed duties and excessive scrutiny can all be detriments. The claim has no qualifying service requirement.
How much compensation do you get for victimisation at work?
In Yerty's review of bullying cases where a victimisation claim succeeded, the median injury to feelings award was £10,000 and median total compensation around £18,700. Awards are uncapped and follow the Vento bands for injury to feelings, plus any financial loss.
How do you prove the bullying was because of your complaint?
By evidence of the link: the timing, the change from how you were treated before, comments about the complaint, and the employer's handling of it. Once you show the complaint and the detriment, the employer must explain the treatment; for whistleblowing, section 48(2) places that burden expressly on the employer.
What is the success rate for victimisation claims?
Within Yerty's review of tribunal judgments that discuss bullying, victimisation claims were upheld in 14% of cases and dismissed in 72%. Whistleblowing detriment claims were upheld in 13%. These figures cover claims that reached a reasoned judgment and exclude cases that settled.
Do I need two years' service to claim victimisation or whistleblowing detriment?
No. Neither claim has a qualifying period. Both are available from the first day of employment, unlike ordinary unfair dismissal, and whistleblowing detriment protection under section 47B extends to workers as well as employees, including agency workers and some contractors.
How long do I have to bring a victimisation claim?
For detriments from 1 October 2026, 6 months minus 1 day from the act complained of, or from the last act in a continuing series. Earlier detriments keep the previous 3-month limit. Acas early conciliation must be started first and pauses the clock.
Sources
- Equality Act 2010, section 27, legislation.gov.uk
- Equality Act 2010, section 136, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 43B, legislation.gov.uk (as amended from 6 April 2026) 3a. Employment Rights Act 1996, section 128 (interim relief), legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 47B, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 48, legislation.gov.uk
- Victimisation, Acas
- Whistleblowing at work, Acas
- Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures, Acas
- Presidential Guidance: Employment Tribunal awards for injury to feelings and psychiatric injury, Judiciary of England and Wales, Ninth Addendum, March 2026
- Employment tribunal time limits: changes from 1 October 2026, Business.gov.uk / Department for Business and Trade
Yerty's tribunal findings are based on published Employment Tribunal judgments from England, Wales and Scotland whose text discusses bullying, single-claimant cases only, reviewed to 1 November 2026. Percentages are shares of that set, not of workplace bullying generally.