This statement, made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, sets out the approach taken by Blue Motor Finance Limited (Blue) to understand all potential modern slavery risks related to our supply chains and our business, and the actions undertaken to mitigate any such risks during the financial year ending 31 December 2022.
Blue is primarily a provider of consumer credit to individuals via car dealerships to aid in the purchase of a motor vehicle. Blue has c260 employees and is based in the UK.
Blue is committed to delivering high standards of corporate governance and a key element of this is managing the company in a socially responsible way. Through Blue's Corporate and Social Responsibility Policy it aims to minimize the negative effect it may have on the environment, reduce risk and increase Blue's long-term profitability and efficiency. In addition, the company aims to employ high ethical and professional standards and always to comply with all local laws and regulations applicable to our business; it follows that Blue is absolutely committed to preventing slavery and human trafficking in its corporate activities and its supply chains. This commitment is emphasised in our employee training programmes and company policies.
Good corporate citizenship and corporate responsibility are important parts of our identity, both as an employer and as a corporate entity.
Good corporate citizenship and corporate responsibility are important parts of our identity, both as an employer and as a corporate entity. We aim to provide a rewarding working environment in which people are valued and respected. We have a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion and look after the well-being of our people, ensuring that they are safe, well and appropriately cared for. Our Employee Handbook contains policies on health, safety and security of staff and Blue provides support to our employees in relation to stress and mental health.
Blue also expects the same high standards which we set for ourselves from those parties with whom we engage, such as our suppliers and customers.
Our supply chain consists of national car dealerships, lead generators, funding providers, recovery firms, legal firms, IT software and equipment providers, training providers and office products suppliers. We are engaged with more than 2,000 car dealerships all of which go through a process of due diligence before being allowed to do business with us, as well as annual or bi - annual monitoring dependent on introducer behaviour.
In addition, all other suppliers are required to go through an on-boarding process which ensures approval is obtained from several business areas before business engagement. They are expected to complete a due diligence questionnaire which is reviewed along with company account information to assess their financial stability and ensure they have appropriate policies in place for safeguarding their employees and our data. Each supplier contract and terms and conditions are reviewed by our in-house legal team and in certain instances we might withdraw from a supplier contract.
Due to the nature of our business and our approach to governance, we assess that there is a very low risk of slavery and human trafficking in our business and supply chains. However, we aim to periodically review the effectiveness of the relevant policies and procedures that we have in place to make improvements necessary to eradicate modern slavery and human trafficking from our business and our supply chains. We do not have key performance indicators in relation to slavery or human trafficking as any instance would be expected to be a breach of law, our supplier standards and/or our company policies.
We have communicated extensively to teams involved in supplier on-boarding and relationship management, ensuring they are aware of the due diligence and contract/SLA approval steps.In addition to the due diligence questionnaire that suppliers have to complete, we perform a similar exercise with the introducing team to identify the reasons for choosing a particular vendor and their place in the market.
This statement is approved by the Board and signed on its behalf by:
Tiku Patel
CEO, Blue Motor Finance Ltd.
06 April 2023
