Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement

Introduction from the CEO

Modern slavery and human trafficking are crimes that affect communities and individuals across the globe. As a Group, BGL strictly prohibits the use of forced labour and human trafficking in all of its operations and global supply chains.

BGL Group considers it imperative that, as a business, there should be total transparency in our efforts to meet the requirements of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (the Act).

The following statement outlines BGL Group’s adherence to the Act and highlights the steps we take to ensure that there are no occurrences of modern slavery or human trafficking within the organisation or its supply chains.
As highlighted in our company values, it is a fundamental policy of BGL Group to conduct our business with honesty, integrity and in accordance with the highest ethical standards.

We are committed to the ongoing review of our practices to ensure we continue to meet the requirements of the Act.

Mark Bailie, CEO

Our Business

BGL Group is a leading digital distributor of insurance and household financial services to 10.7 million customers. The Group is organised in two Divisions: Price Comparison and Insurance, Distribution and Outsourcing (IDO).
The Price Comparison Division offers customers access to a growing range of car, home insurance and breadth products (including life, travel, energy and pet insurance as well as utilities and money products).
comparethemarket.com is one of the UK’s leading price comparison sites and LesFurets.com is a leading player in the French market.
IDO provides a range of motor, home and life insurance products in partnership with several of the best-known brands in UK financial services and through own brands Budget Insurance, Dial Direct and Beagle Street, all supported by state-of-the-art contact centres and digital platforms.

Related Company Policies

BGL Group is committed to ensuring that modern slavery and human trafficking do not exist within any part of our business or supply chains in accordance with the principles set out in our Speak Up Policy.
The implementation and enforcement of effective systems and controls within the organisation and our supply chains safeguards against modern slavery and human trafficking.
Where risks associated with the Act are identified these are managed in accordance with the Group Risk Management Framework. Additionally, the Group operates a Speak Up Policy and actively encourages the reporting and exposure of unethical behaviour.

Due Diligence Process for Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking

BGL colleagues are predominantly based in the UK, with a small contingent based in France. Employee Relations are managed consistently across the Group by the Human Resources department. All relevant colleagues are paid at least the UK National Minimum Wage. Facilities services procured through third parties have been grouped into tiers, based on value and importance, allowing us to identify which of our service providers we should focus the most attention on.
We have written to suppliers seeking assurance that the precepts of the Act are being followed/adopted, though clearly expecting a more complete and robust attestation from those few facilities suppliers who directly fall under the tenets of the Act. Where no assurance is forthcoming, we will engage with those parties at contract review to ascertain whether there is sufficient concern to replace them.

Our Effectiveness in Combating Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking

BGL also uses independent third-party auditors to conduct an externally facilitated Workplace Condition Review on key third party suppliers to bring insights on ways we can tackle modern slavery and human trafficking. We plan to carry out annual audits to ensure adherence to anti-slavery standards. The remit of these audits is to assess and benchmark our suppliers from a social point of view including Labour, Health and Safety, Management Systems and Environment and how effective we have been in ensuring that modern slavery and human trafficking is not taking place in any part of our business or supply chains.

Supplier Adherence to our Values and Due Diligence Processes

We have a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery and human trafficking. To ensure suppliers comply with our values, we tier them based on value, the type of services being provided and risk, and review key suppliers to ensure their compliance with the Act and their combatting of modern slavery risks.
We do not rely solely on our supply chain’s commitment to being compliant. Comparethemarket.com conducts annual social and working condition audits for areas of the supply chain that could be susceptible to modern slavery risks. These checks include payroll and young worker registration, local minimum wage standards, hygiene certification and facility evacuation plans.

Training

To ensure a high level of understanding of the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our organisation and supply chains, we have provided training to our colleagues to raise awareness of this issue throughout the Group and continue to refresh this training annually through our regulatory programme.
This statement is made pursuant to Section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes the BGL Group Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement for the financial year ending 30 June 2020.