For financial year ending 31 May 2023
This Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 with respect to the financial year ending 31 May 2023 and is approved by Open GI’s Chief Officers.
The statement sets out the steps taken by Open GI Limited and other relevant group companies during this financial year to monitor for and prevent slavery and human trafficking within its business or supply chains.
Introduction
Open GI is recognised as one of the leading technology partners to the general insurance industry in the UK and Irish markets, with a strong history of innovation. Currently, the group employs approximately 463 people across multiple locations in the UK and Central Europe.
Open GI is committed to upholding good governance and business practices and takes a zero-tolerance approach to any exploitation of individuals, including those offences covered by the Modern Slavery Act 2015. We strive to do our part in opposing modern slavery and human trafficking in any form, and we will take measures necessary to prevent it.
What we did during our last financial year
- Enhanced our risk assessment process.
- Undertook further updates to our policies and governance, including our modern slavery policy.
- Introduced improvements to our awareness training to be more engaging.
- Transferred ownership of our approach towards mitigating modern slavery and human trafficking to our newly created ESG Working Group to ensure better alignment and consistency with other organisational controls.
- Amended our supply chain monitoring to ensure focus is prioritised on potentially high-risk suppliers.
Supply chain monitoring
Most of Open GI’s operations are UK based, and we source goods and services from predominantly UK-based suppliers whose supply chains may extend to other regions. In addition to this, we have three software development centres in Krakow, Poland, Skopje, Northern Macedonia, and Lake Ohrid, Northern Macedonia which use a limited number of supply chains for goods and services necessary to operate these offices.
Given the nature of the Group’s business (the development and sale of software), most supplies tend to be of tools and services that enable these activities, such as the hardware on which our developers work and third-party software to enhance our operations. We also procure services and supplies to ensure that the premises that we own, or rent are fully operational.
We recognise that it is impossible to guarantee that no slavery or human trafficking is present anywhere in any supply chain, and we therefore continually assess potential high-risk areas. If necessary, we take appropriate action to ensure we are only working with suppliers who share our commitment to eliminating modern slavery and human trafficking.
Employees
Open GI is committed to increasing awareness of modern slavery and human trafficking, and this is a required part of our onboarding process for new employees. We ensure that employee awareness is refreshed annually throughout an employee’s tenure with Open GI, and it is an essential part of our ESG agenda and our commitment to supporting equality and diversity in all our employment practices. During the last financial year 86% of our employees completed awareness training specific to the elimination of modern slavery.
Our HR policies are regularly reviewed to ensure they are compliant with relevant legislation and reflect best practice, including mitigating the potential risk of modern slavery and human trafficking in employment or within our supply chain.
At Open GI, we strive to create an environment of openness and transparency, and we want our employees to feel comfortable raising any concerns or issues they may have. To further this commitment, we have a Speak Up (whistleblowing) policy in place, which includes a dedicated email address and an anonymous hotline. This provides an additional avenue for employees to report any modern slavery or human trafficking concerns related to Open GI’s direct activities or those of its supply chain.
Charlie Ralph
Chief Financial Officer
