Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement

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 2021 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 detect and prevent slavery and human trafficking within its business or supply chains.

Open GI continues to be one of the leading technology partners to general insurance brokers in the UK and Irish markets with a strong track record of innovation. Today, the Group employs nearly 500 people across several locations, in the UK and in Central Europe.

As part of our culture of good governance and good business practice, Open GI is opposed to modern slavery and human trafficking in any form and prevents this by whatever means we can. We have a zero-tolerance approach to the exploitation of individuals and any offences covered by the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

The substantial majority of Open GI’s operations are UK based, and we source goods and services from predominantly UK-based suppliers whose supply chains extend globally. In addition to this, we have two software development centres in Krakow, Poland and Skopje, 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) the majority of 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 acknowledge that no supply chain can be considered entirely free from the potential for slavery or human trafficking to occur and we therefore continue to assess potential high-risk areas. We take appropriate action where necessary to have confidence that we are only working with suppliers who share our zero-tolerance approach to slavery and human trafficking. As well as assessing our current suppliers, we follow a process for assessing new suppliers that aims to ensure they are compliant themselves. We also undertake periodic reviews of our assessment approach to ensure it is in line with current legislation and effective in identifying risks.

Whilst the vast majority of our supplies come from large reputable suppliers that have themselves clear policies on slavery and human trafficking which we monitor, there are inevitably some smaller local suppliers that we address by monitoring and questioning, on a risk-adjusted basis.

Open GI continues to make raising awareness of the existence of modern slavery and human trafficking an integral part of its onboarding process for all new employees. Moreover, we ensure that refresher training is provided to existing employees throughout their career with Open GI as we strive to continually champion Equality and Diversity in all our employment practices. Our HR policies are reviewed at least annually to ensure they not only remain compliant with relevant legislation, but they also reflect best practice. Our aim is to mitigate the potential risk of slavery and human trafficking in employment as well as within our supply chain.

Whilst Open GI fosters a culture of openness and transparency and considers itself a safe place for its employees to raise concerns and report issues, we also have a whistleblowing policy. This provides another channel for employees to report any modern slavery or human trafficking concerns related to Open GI’s direct activities or those of its supply chain.