Modern Slavery Statement

Legal

BBD SOFTWARE LIMITED (BBD) – Modern Slavery Statement

This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 with respect to the financial year ending March 2024 and sets out the steps taken by BBD Software Limited and other relevant Group Companies during this financial year to prevent slavery and human trafficking within its business or supply chains.

Opening statement

We strive to act ethically and with integrity in all of our business dealings to protect the human rights of workers, both within our business and supply chains, and are committed to improving our practices to combat modern slavery and human trafficking.

Our organisation

BBD builds effective digital business solutions which support the optimisation of your business processes. Using our in-depth knowledge of software development and system integration, we design and implement cohesive bespoke digital strategies that speak to each client’s technical architecture using the latest technologies and best practices.

To find out more about the nature of our business, please click through to www.bbdsoftware.com.

Our procurement activities for BBD Software Limited take place in the United Kingdom and our suppliers are predominantly UK and EU based. Our supply chains include outsourced software support and development services, hardware providers, data centre providers, recruitment providers, office supplies providers and cleaning suppliers.

We have carried out an initial review of our business and supply chain and consider that there is a low risk of modern slavery and human trafficking occurring within it.

Policies

BBD Software Limited respects the human rights of our employees and is committed to a work environment in which all individuals are treated with respect and dignity. BBD has a number of HR policies and internal procedures in place to protect the human rights of our employees, Equity, Diversity and Including Policy, including an Anti-Bribery Policy and a Whistle Blowing Policy.

As part of our commitment to combatting modern slavery, we have implemented an Anti-Slavery and Human Trafficking Policy (“Policy”) within our organisation, which reflects our commitment to acting ethically and with integrity in our business and business relationships, and to implementing appropriate and proportionate systems and controls to ensure slavery and human trafficking is not taking place in our business or supply chains.

We ensure that our key UK suppliers are aware of our Policy, and expect them to adhere to the same high standards.

We encourage individuals aware of any potential breach of the Policy to raise any issue or suspicion of modern slavery in any part of our business or supply chain at the earliest possible stage, both in our Anti-Slavery and Whistleblowing policies.

Due diligence

We have identified the following areas of the business or supply chain that we consider to give rise to the highest susceptibility of modern slavery:

processes where low skilled labour is required or managed including office supplies providers and cleaning suppliers, and
processes outsourced outside of the EEA.

In order to mitigate the risk of modern slavery occurring within our supply chains, we take steps to consider the level of modern slavery risk in relation to each key supplier that we procure on a case-by-case basis based on the nature and value of the product or service being procured, including taking into account country, sector, business or transaction, and product risk.

Our procedures are designed to:

Establish and assess areas of potential risk in our business and supply chains
Monitor potential risk areas in our business and supply chains
Reduce the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring in our business and supply chains
Provide adequate protection for whistle blowers.

Risk and compliance

BBD regularly evaluates the nature and extent of our exposure to the risk of modern slavery occurring in our supply chain. Where we have identified a potential risk we will take steps to remediate it through legitimate and proportionate processes.

Training

BBD has taken steps to educate staff to recognise the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our business and supply chains, at appropriate intervals. We continue to monitor the need for training based on our assessment of the risk of modern slavery occurring in our supply chain, if warranted. Through our awareness programs, employees will be encouraged to identify and report any potential breaches of the organisations Anti-Slavery and Human Trafficking Policy.

Further actions

Following BBD review of our actions this financial year to prevent slavery or human trafficking from occurring in our business or supply chains, we intend to continue to monitor modern slavery risks within our business and supply chain.