Ardonagh Modern Slavery Act Statement

Introduction

The Modern Slavery Act 2015 (the “Act”) is a UK law that came into force in 2015. The Act requires commercial organisations with an annual turnover of more than £36 million to publish a slavery and human trafficking statement for each financial year. As a major provider of insurance broking and associated services, The Ardonagh Group of companies (the “Group” or “Ardonagh”) is fully supportive of the Act and, as required by the Act, this statement sets out the steps taken during the financial year ended 31 December 2021 to combat slavery and human trafficking in our business and supply chains.

Our business

The Ardonagh Group is the UK's largest independent insurance distribution platform and a top 20 broker globally. We are a collection of best-in-class entrepreneurial and specialist brands with a network of more 150 locations and a combined workforce of more than 9,000 people. For all or part of 2021, The Ardonagh Group comprised the following businesses:

• Retail - Autonet, Be Wiser, Carole Nash, Healthy Pets, Lloyd Latchford, Marmalade, Paymentshield, Swinton, insurance4carhire
• Advisory - Bravo Networks, Ethos Broking, Hera Indemnity, Thompson & Bryan, Towergate, Towergate Health & Protection, Usay Compare, Footman James
• Specialty - Bishopsgate, Compass London Markets, Besso Insurance, Ed Broking, Inver Re, Piiq, Price Forbes, Equinox, Geo Underwriting, Geo Europe, Bravo Networks Underwriting, Globe Underwriting, Midas Underwriting, Robus, Thames Underwriting Limited, URIS Group
• International - Arachas, Cooper Gay, AccuRisk, Epsilon Underwriting, Ethos Broking Australia, HWF Partners, Resilium Insurance Broking,
  

As a group, we offer a highly diversified range of insurance-related products and services across the full insurance value chain in the UK, Ireland and broader international markets and the legal entities that carry out insurance-related activity are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. More information about our business can be found at: http://www.ardonagh.com.

Our supply chains

Our supply chains include business partners in the provision of insurance services such as insurance companies, brokers and distributors; and also providers of other services necessary to run our business effectively, such as IT, payroll, and facilities.

Recruitment practices

We recognise the right of each employee to freedom of association, including the right to join trade unions. We ensure that we comply with employment legislation as regards child employment and we do not employ people who do not have the right to work in the UK.

Due diligence and contracting

The Ardonagh Group has standardised the process in procurement across the Group, under the outsourcing and procurement policy and mandates due diligence needs to cover modern slavery. A question set and declaration called Know Your Supplier (KYS) is the key document for due diligence on which we assess our potential suppliers. This includes a section on slavery and human trafficking. All businesses within The Ardonagh Group should be using the KYS, and any businesses acquired into the Group will be required to adopt this as part of the controls on integration. For all key supplier contracts, specific wording is required relating to modern slavery, and forms part of the sign-off process.

Training

To ensure a high level of understanding of the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains and our business, we take the opportunity annually to remind key staff involved in procurement and supplier management of our obligations under the Act.

Further steps

As part of the rollout of our Group policies and business standards, it was recognised that there is a need to clearly articulate the minimum standards required to comply with the Modern Slavery Act and for these to be adopted and embedded across all businesses within The Ardonagh Group. This was rolled out in early 2019, to ensure a consistent approach going forward.

As part of our annual review a supplier health check will be completed which will include compliance with the Act.

This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes our slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ending 31 December 2021.

The board of directors of the Group holding company, The Ardonagh Group Limited, approved this statement on 25th May 2022.

David Ross
Group CEO