Anti-Bribery Policy

Purpose

1. The Group conducts its business to the highest legal and ethical The Group will not be party to corruption or bribery in any form. Such acts would damage the Group’s reputation and expose the Group, and its employees and representatives, to the risk of fines and imprisonment. The Group takes a zero-tolerance approach to bribery and corruption by its employees and its third party representatives.
2. This policy sets out the steps you must take to prevent bribery and corruption, to comply with applicable legislation and the Group’s requirements.
3. This procedure is non-contractual and does not form part of your contract of We reserve the right to vary it from time to time.

Scope

4. This procedure applies to all staff, including agency workers and staff on zero hours

Anti-Bribery Objectives

5. The Group is committed to satisfy Anti-Bribery Management System requirements to ISO 37001:2016 As part of our commitment to continual improvement, our system provides a framework for setting, reviewing and achieving anti-bribery objectives including:
   1. To conduct business in accordance with defined ethical standards, including the avoidance of bribery or other forms of corruption.
   2. To comply with all applicable laws and regulations (including the Bribery Act 2010).
   3. To maintain strong relationships with our business

What is bribery and corruption?

6. A ‘bribe’ is any financial or other advantage offered, promised, requested or given to induce a person to perform a relevant function or activity improperly, or to reward them for doing so. In this context, a ‘financial or other advantage’ is likely to include cash or cash equivalent, gifts, hospitality and entertainment, services, loans, preferential treatment in a tendering process, discounts, etc.
7. ‘Bribery’ includes offering, promising, giving, accepting or seeking a
8. The timing of the bribe is irrelevant: payments made after the relevant event will still be caught, as will bribes that are given or received unknowingly.
9. ‘Corruption’ is the misuse of office or power for private gain and it can be inter-related with a conflict of interest.
10. All forms of bribery and corruption are strictly
11. It does not matter whether the bribery occurs in the UK or A corrupt act committed abroad may well result in a prosecution in the UK.
12. If you are unsure about whether a particular act constitutes bribery, you should raise it with your line manager.

Who can be involved in bribery?

13. Bribery and corruption can be committed by:

• the Group’s staff, managers or directors; and
• anyone who performs services for or on behalf of the Group, g. representatives, suppliers and other third parties.

Prohibited acts

14. You must not:
    1. give or offer any payment, gift, hospitality or other benefit in the expectation that a business advantage will be received or in order to reward any business received;
    2. accept any offer from a third party that you know or suspect is made with the expectation that the Group will provide a business advantage for them or anyone else; or
    3. give or offer any payment to a government official in any country to facilitate or speed up a routine or necessary procedure (sometimes known as a ‘facilitation payment’).
15. No person must threaten or retaliate against another person for refusing to offer or accept a bribe or for raising concerns about possible bribery or corruption.

Areas of specific risk

16. Certain areas of the business are at higher risk than These include:
17. Gifts, tips and hospitality. You must not solicit or accept any gift, tips or hospitality in the course of your employment or otherwise from any third party who may expect any company within the Group to provide them with a business advantage. Nor must you give any gift or hospitality to any third party with a view to expecting a business advantage for any company within the Group. The Group does however exercise its discretion to permit the receipt of small, reasonable and bona fide gifts, tips or hospitality and to the production and giving of genuine marketing material provided they are below the thresholds set out below.

The Thresholds

• gifts above the value of £50.
• tips above the value of £20 and
• hospitality over the value of £100
• marketing material above the value of £30

1. All gifts, tips, hospitality and marketing material over the above thresholds must be:

1. Declared and formally reported by you to the Operations Manager/Director¹ using the Bribery Prevention Declaration Form;
2. authorised by the Operations Manager/Director1; and

• recorded in a Gifts, Tips, Hospitality and Marketing register by the Operations Manager/Director (or as otherwise delegated).
  1. Conflicts of Interest: may occur where your interest in a particular matter is or risks being at odds with the Group’s interests leading to decisions, actions, activities or relationships that risk undermining the interests and/or integrity of the Group.

Conflicts can be actual, potential or perceived and decisions can be tainted by them. They can arise in numerous ways, including but not limited to the following circumstances:

1. due to family (whether by blood, marriage or relationship) such as recruiting or promoting relations and working together (including supplying services to a family member), risks impartiality and/or corroboration All family relationships with other staff or any of our service users must be declared whether or not they present an actual conflict of interest as there will always be the potential for a conflict to arise if undeclared;
2. as a result of your personal financial interests (or that of your family’s) such as investments, setting up in competition with our business or working for a competitor; and/or

• using company connections or resources such as IT equipment or tools for your own private purposes

 

1. All staff must declare and seek authority from their Operations Manager/Director4 for any and all potential, actual or perceived conflict of interest using the Conflicts & Interests Declaration Form.
2. Third parties: The Group sometimes uses external parties to help it achieve its business objectives, but this can involve significant Anyone who deals with third parties who act on the Group’s behalf must familiarise themselves with this policy and adhere to its procedures.
3. Facilitation payments: These are small bribes paid to facilitate routine Government action, e.g.: speeding up the grant of a licence or permit. Such payments are illegal and the Group does not offer or pay them. If you are faced with a request or demand for such a payment, you must contact the Legal Department immediately.
4. Political contributions: Such contributions can be (or be seen as) bribes in disguise. The Group does not make donations to political parties and you must not make a donation which is stated to be on the Group’s behalf.
5. Donations to charities and non-profit organisations: Bribes may be disguised as charitable donations. You must not make a donation to any charitable or not- profit organisation on behalf of the Group without the prior approval of the Group’s
6. Public procurement: Such transactions give rise to a high risk of Bribery might involve providing procurement staff or other officials with gifts, hospitality, holidays or promises of future employment in exchange for favourable treatment. Alternatively, an official may request a ‘kickback’ in which a portion of the value of the contract is given as a bribe for services rendered, such as securing the contract. You must not offer or pay any undue payment or other consideration in order to obtain or retain business, or to secure any other improper advantage.

Records

17. Transparency is vital. Records are a useful means of proving conformity with relevant
18. All staff must declare and properly record in writing all interests (including but not limited to perceived, potential or actual conflicts of interest), gifts, tips, hospitality and marketing given or received to their Operations Manager/Director¹ as detailed above.
19. All accounts, invoices, credit notes, purchase orders and other records relating to dealing

with third parties (including suppliers and customers) must be properly prepared in accordance with the Group’s prevailing practices and requirements and with accuracy and completeness. No account may be kept ‘off book’.

Indicators of bribery and corruption

20. Common indicators of bribery and corruption include those listed below. This is not an exhaustive list and there may well be others.
    1. Payments are for abnormal amounts or purposes, or made in an unusual way. For example, what would normally be a single payment is made in stages, through a bank account never previously used, or in a currency or via a country that has no connection with the transaction.
    2. Process is bypassed for approval or sign-off of terms, payments or other commercial Those whose job it is to monitor commercial processes may be hindered from doing so.
    3. Individuals are secretive about certain matters or relationships and/or insist on dealing with particular customer or contacts For example, the person may make trips at short notice without explanation or have a more lavish lifestyle than expected.
    4. Decisions are taken without any clear
    5. Records are incomplete or

Your responsibility

21. You are responsible for:
    1. reading and becoming aware of the contents of this policy, acknowledging and complying with it;
    2. completing all assigned training by the due date
    3. reporting cases where you know or have a reasonable suspicion that bribery or corruption has occurred or is likely to occur in the business.
    4. Declaring any offers or acceptance of gifts, gratuities, hospitality or marketing regardless of value.

Guidance for reporting bribery concerns

22. The Group encourages raising concerns of bribery or corruption in good faith, or on the basis of a reasonable belief in confidence, without fear of reprisal.
23. If you discover or suspect that any bribery or corruption has occurred or may occur, you must report it to your Operations Manager/Director (or as otherwise delegated) or the Head of Legal for the Group (Anti-Bribery Compliance Manager) as soon as possible.
24. The Group has a Whistleblowing Policy to protect those that make a disclosure of bribery or corruption in good faith from any detriment or dismissal and the Head of Legal has authority and independence to investigate concerns and direct access to the Group top
25. Although information may be provided anonymously, we encourage you to give your name when reporting your concern whenever possible. This is because anonymous disclosures are difficult to investigate. We nonetheless have a dedicated Ethics Reporting Channel, Navex, to where anonymous reports may be made. Further details are below.
26. If you have concerns about the conduct of any of these people then you should report it to the Head of Legal (Email: lwengraf@clececare.co.uk).

Consequences of not complying with the anti-bribery policy

27. Any person who pays bribes on the Group’s behalf or otherwise breaches this policy may face disciplinary action, which could result in your immediate dismissal for gross
28. Any non-employee who breaches this policy is liable to have their contract terminated with immediate effect.
29. The criminal sanctions for committing a bribery offence are:
    1. Any person guilty of bribery faces a substantial fine and/or up to 10 years’
    2. If an organisation is found guilty of bribery or even of failing to have adequate procedures in place to prevent bribery, it will be subject to large fines.

Risk assessment and management

30. The risk of bribery and corruption in the Group’s business varies by The CEO and

Operations Directors (or as otherwise delegated), working with the Legal Department, are responsible for assessing the level of risk to which business units are subject and putting in place any measures additional to those outlined in this policy they consider are required.

31. The Group operates a Compliance Committee, comprising top management representatives (CEO, Legal, Finance, Quality and Compliance), which meets quarterly to review all Anti Bribery risks, controls, reports, initiatives and actions in response to activities to ensure they are compliant with legal requirements, ISO 37001 (Anti Bribery) requirements and Group expectations.
32. The Group works with external consultants, AVISO, to manage and meet the ISO 37001 Standards.
33. AVISO conduct annual Internal Audits and chair the Management Review and keep the Group informed of any changes to Anti-Bribery legislation.
34. Annual financial audits are conducted by a third party and this process would identify any anomalies or unusual activity.
35. All employees are required to complete annual Anti-Bribery training. E-learning is available in the ACCESS Learning platform.

Responsibility for this policy

36. The CEO has overall responsibility for this Operational Directors (or as otherwise delegated) have responsibility for ensuring that the policy is adhered in their business units.
37. The Operations Directors (or as otherwise delegated) are responsible for ensuring that this policy is distributed and updated as required by law and will monitor, review and evaluate this policy regularly to ensure compliance.
38. If you are in doubt about any aspect of this policy, do not hesitate to contact your Operations Manager/Director.

 

Contacts