Understanding the UK Bribery Act 2010 is the first step towards preventing bribery and its consequences. We unpack everything you need to know and ways to prevent bribery in your organisation and elsewhere.
Most people think of a bribe as a person or company paying someone to secure an advantage. While this is broadly true, many types of bribery exist, and the definition can be easily misinterpreted or misunderstood.
For example, if a business owner treats a potential client to an expensive meal in the hopes of winning them over as a customer, is that a bribe?
The UK Bribery Act 2010 helps answer these questions. It provides a legal definition of bribery, specifies certain types, and governs what punishments can be handed out. The Act was introduced to replace outdated legislation and is so comprehensive that countries worldwide use it to inspire their own anti-corruption laws.
The UK Bribery Act 2010 is an anti-corruption law that applies to individuals and companies. It defines bribery, who is liable, and what punishments can be imposed.
The British Bribery Act has a broad reach and applies to UK citizens, residents and companies regardless of where the bribery takes place. It also applies to non-UK companies that conduct business in the United Kingdom, regardless of where the bribery occurs.
Under the Act, bribery occurs when someone is:
“offering, promising or giving a financial or other advantage to a person to induce or reward a person to perform a relevant function or activity improperly.”
The Act makes it illegal to offer, promise or give a financial (or other) advantage to someone to influence them to perform their duties improperly. This can be anything from cash to assets or even something less tangible like a promise of future promotion.
It’s not just the giver of the bribe who is liable. It’s also an offence to request, agree to receive, or accept a bribe in exchange for improperly performing your duties.
This involves offering, promising, or giving a bribe to a foreign official with the intention of influencing them to obtain or retain a business advantage.
This is the big one for UK businesses – a company can be held liable if it fails to prevent bribery by someone associated with it (for example, employees, agents or subsidiaries). The company’s only defence is proving it had "adequate procedures" in place to prevent bribery.
If you or your company are convicted of breaching UK bribery law, you'll face severe penalties, ranging from unlimited fines to lengthy prison sentences.
The reputational damage of a conviction is also worth considering. You may lose customers and be forced to close. Businesses may also be banned from bidding on government contracts or engaging in public-sector projects.
Businesses are at risk of bribery more often than they think. As mentioned, client hospitality could potentially be viewed as bribery, so how do you keep safe?
UK bribery law focuses on conduct rather than outcome – it’s about identifying an intention to encourage someone to do something they wouldn't usually.
This means corporate gifts and hospitality aren’t automatically bribery. However, they are if the intention is to influence a decision improperly or secure a business advantage.
Unfortunately, this puts business owners in a tricky position, because certain acts may come down to subjective ruling. Rather than take any chances, you can create a Gifts and Hospitality register to track activity and mitigate the risk of bribery or fraud.
Also consider implementing our top tips for your gifts and hospitality policy:
Bribery can sometimes happen even if you've taken steps to prevent it. The only defence under the Act is proving adequate procedures were in place to prevent bribery.
What are these adequate measures? The government issued six principles to guide businesses.
Now that you have a better understanding of what bribery is and how the act governs it, you can see how important it is to put the government’s “adequate measures” in place in order to prevent bribery from occurring and to defend yourself if required.
Get the anti-bribery training you need to equip yourself and your employees with the knowledge necessary to reduce the risk of bribery. Our straightforward e-learning courses are suitable for all levels, and you can get started by requesting a free trial.
Yes. The UK Bribery Act applies to businesses of all sizes. However, anti-bribery procedures should be proportionate to the company’s size, structure and level of risk.
Staff should follow their organisation's anti-bribery policy and report the offer through the appropriate internal channel.
Bribery is a form of corruption involving offering, giving, requesting or accepting an advantage to influence someone's actions. Corruption is a broader term that can encompass bribery and other forms of dishonest or improper conduct.
If you’re looking for focused training, browse our bribery prevention courses – we offer a complete solution for your compliance programme, including CPD-certified modules. Our topics include:
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