During the festive season, businesses often think about how to recognise valued business from clients and suppliers but there are various restrictions under the Bribery Act 2010.

Corporate gifting is a good way to further establish relationships with clients and suppliers. However, there is a line between gifting and bribery, and employers need to know where this is, especially the rules under the Bribery Act and what employers need to think about when it comes to corporate gifts.

In this scenario, the client is in the hospitality sector. In the past their employees have both given and received gifts from key clients and suppliers and they haven’t really done anything about this. I have highlighted that they need to protect themselves from the risk of bribery offences under the Bribery Act 2010. What do they need to know about this?

Bribery is an area where criminal law and employment practices, policies and procedures interact, and it is important that your client introduces adequate safeguards to protect itself.

A bribery offence happens when the intention of the individual, and the context in which the bribe is offered or accepted, is to reward or induce a person for acting dishonestly and/or breaking the law.

Employees are prohibited from bribing another individual, a foreign public official or from being bribed themselves. The organisation can also commit an offence if it fails to stop those operating on its behalf from being involved in bribery.

To avoid this, companies need to show that they effectively manage bribery and its risks in the workplace by having ‘adequate procedures’ in place to prevent bribery.

The extent of the procedures required will differ depending on various factors such as the size of the business, the number of employees, the type of sector it operates in and the risk of bribery occurring.

There are six key principles to be aware of when deciding on the adequate steps needed to prevent bribery in the workplace:

• having proportionate procedures to prevent bribery
• having commitment from top-level management
• carrying out regular risk assessments on this issue
• following due diligence procedures within the business
• carrying out workplace communication which includes staff training on bribery and how to prevent it
• monitoring workplace policies and reviewing these to ensure they remain appropriate.

It is good practice to introduce and implement an anti-bribery policy to outline the organisation’s stance on prohibiting bribery and its rules on it, including:

• staff are prohibited from giving or accepting bribes
• the forms bribes may take, such as gifts, loans, rewards or advantages
• who to contact internally if the employee suspects they, or others, are being bribed
• the checks which will be carried out by the organisation.

When it comes to corporate gifting, the Act does  not ban them. A gift from a customer for a job well done, a hospitality package provided to a client, gifts provided to members of the workforce during the festive period can still happen, however your client should have anti-bribery measures in place including:

• having an Accepting Gifts and Hospitality Policy
• ensuring staff understand the circumstances in which bribery can take place within the workplace, allowing them to raise concerns of bribery
• introducing a gifts and hospitality register which records the type of gift, cost, context or reason why this was given and received, and who gave permission for this to be accepted or offered
• addressing bribery concerns when these are raised to assess whether the bribery offence has been met
• continually reviewing and monitoring the gifts and hospitality register to assess whether there is a risk of bribery occurring.

Organisations can also encourage staff to consider the context in which a gift, or hospitality, was offered to them. They need to ensure employees understand this – it can be covered in training - and carry out an assessment when they are offered a gift, especially where they are in senior positions or positions of trust.

If an employee is unsure they should speak to their manager before accepting anything. It is good practice to introduce a price limit where, if it is estimated the gift costs in excess of this limit, approval must be received from their line manager before anything can be accepted.

The organisation may also want to consider setting in place specific rules relating to the offering of gifts or hospitality, such as:

• no gifts or hospitality can be offered to others with prior express approval from the organisation
• before approval is granted, the employee will need to explain, and evidence where appropriate, the context in which the gift will be offered
• gifts or hospitality cannot be offered in the organisation’s name in any circumstances.

As well as the risk of bribery, organisations also need to be aware of other issues that could crop up, for example, the risk of discrimination if certain members of staff do not receive a gift when others do. This may lead to workplace concerns, formal grievances or employment tribunal complaints.

By Stacie Cheadle, technical writer, Croner-i

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