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A POLICY STATEMENT
Money laundering can be defined as the process to move money illegally acquired, through financial systems so that it appears to be from a legitimate source and it is unlawful.
We, UK Contracting Limited trading as MyUmbrella (“we/us/our”) are registered in the UK. We provide employer and payroll services to contractor employees as well as the services of those contractor employees to agencies and end clients. We have assessed our business and deem it to be low risk in relation to money laundering activity. However, we are alert to the risks and eager to ensure that we take appropriate measures to avoid money laundering in relation to our business and act with integrity in all of our business dealings. We take a zero-tolerance approach to money laundering. To meet this commitment, we:
have put this policy in place;
provided training on anti-money laundering to all staff;
put in place systems and controls to prevent money laundering occurring in our business and in supply chains;
enforce those systems and controls;
comply with all applicable anti-money laundering laws and regulations;
require transparency in our business and our supply chains to tackle money laundering;
include binding clauses in our contracts that prohibit money laundering;
we require our suppliers to include equivalent binding clauses in their contracts with their suppliers.
B POLICY PURPOSE
This policy provides information and guidance and sets out our responsibilities, the responsibilities of those working for us and the responsibilities of any third party, on how to recognise and avoid money laundering and to effect and maintain the prevention of money laundering.
We define a third party as any individual or organisation that or any of our staff come into contact with during the course of our business. This includes, but is not limited to, actual and potential clients, customers, suppliers, distributors, business contacts, agents, advisers as well as government and public bodies, including their advisers, representatives and officials, politicians and political parties.
Failure to prevent any party from facilitating money laundering could result in criminal sanctions including an unlimited fine, exclusion from public contracts, damage to our reputation and individuals being imprisoned. As a result, we take our legal responsibilities seriously.
Whilst there are a number of risks to any business, we have identified the following particular risks to our business:
a request to make an usually large payment when compared to earlier payments made;
a request to make a payment to a different or suspicious bank account or to a high risk jurisdiction;
a request to become involved in a payment arrangement that is unusually or unnecessarily complex.
We address those risks by prohibiting risks identified, in our policies and training processes. We also conduct due diligence on all new clients and review all payments arrangements in place, every three months.
C COMPLIANCE WITH THIS POLICY
Potentially, anyone could commit a money laundering offence including our employees, our temporary staff and contractors. This policy therefore applies to all persons associated with us, working for us and/or acting on our behalf, in any capacity and in any location. Each of those persons is required to be ensure that they are familiar with their legal responsibilities as failure to comply with this policy may lead to disciplinary action.
This policy does not form part of any employee’s contract of employment and we may amend it at any time.
D RESPONSIBILITY FOR THIS POLICY
Overall responsibility for this policy rests with the Company directors and they must ensure that this policy complies with our legal and ethical obligations, and that all those under our control comply with it.
The directors have delegated day to day responsibility for implementing this policy and for anti-money laundering activity in the Company, to the compliance manager. The compliance manager shall:
monitor the use and effectiveness of this policy;
receive disclosures made about money laundering;
to deal with comments, suggestions and queries regarding this policy;
deal with any queries about anti-money laundering;
audit our processes, systems and procedures to ensure they are effective in preventing the facilitation of money laundering;
provide regular reports to the directors regarding anti-money laundering in relation to the business of the Company.
It is the responsibility of managers to ensure that those reporting to them understand and comply with this policy. The manager must also ensure that those reporting to them are given adequate and regular training on anti-money laundering and encouraged to make suggestions for improvement of the Company’s efforts to address it.
To ensure it fully complies with our ethical and legal duties and remains fit for purpose, the directors review this policy annually and make any necessary amendments.
E WHAT IS MONEY LAUNDERING AND TERRORISM FINANCING?
Money laundering is governed by The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA), supplemented by the Terrorism Act 2000 and the Fraud Act 2006 which consolidated, updated and reformed criminal law with regard to money laundering. The principal secondary legislation is the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 as amended by the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2019.
Money laundering offences include (but are not limited to):
concealing, disguising, converting, transferring or removing criminal property from the UK;
entering into or becoming concerned in an arrangement which you know or suspect facilitates the acquisition, retention, use or control of criminal property by or on behalf of another person; and
acquiring, using or possessing criminal property.
In addition, there are a number of secondary offences which include (but are not limited to):
failure to disclose knowledge of or suspicion of money laundering to the National Crime Agency; and
‘tipping off’ which is where somebody informs a person or persons in such a way as to reduce the likelihood of their being investigated or prejudicing an investigation for money laundering, where that person or persons are involved or are suspected of being involved, in money laundering.
Terrorist financing is providing or collecting funds to be used to carry out an act of terrorism. Funds provided or collected could be obtained illegally or come from a legitimate source.
Terrorist financing offences include (but are not limited to):
fundraising for the purposes of terrorism;
using or possessing money for the purposes of terrorism;
involvement in funding arrangements and money laundering for the purpose of terrorism; and
facilitating the retention or control of money that is destined for, or is the proceeds of, terrorism.
As with money laundering, there are also secondary offences which include but are not limited to:
of failure to disclose offences; and
‘tipping off’.
Potentially, any individual could be caught by the money laundering provisions and/or terrorist financing provisions. This could occur if you suspect money laundering and/or terrorist financing and you become involved with it in some way and/or do nothing about it. Any concerns about money laundering and/or terrorist financing should promptly be brought directly to the attention of the compliance manager.
F ACTIONS TO BE AVOIDED
You (including persons acting on your behalf) must not:
facilitate UK money laundering or foreign money laundering in any way;
aid, abet, counsel or procure the commission of a money laundering offence by any other person;
fail to promptly report, in accordance with this policy,:
any request or demand from any third party to facilitate money laundering;
any suspected money laundering by another person;
engage in any other activity that might lead to a breach of this policy; and/or
threaten or retaliate against another individual in relation to money laundering and/or this policy.
G YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES
All those working for us or under our control, must ensure that they read, understand and comply with this policy as the prevention, detection and reporting of money laundering are the responsibility of us all. You must not engage in any activity that could lead to, or suggest, a breach of this policy.
If you believe or suspect that a conflict with this policy has occurred or may occur in the future, you must promptly inform the compliance manager. The Risk Scenarios listed below may act as a guide to “red flags” that may indicate potential money laundering.
H RAISING A CONCERN
You must raise any concern or suspicion of money laundering in any parts of our business or supply chains with the compliance manager as soon as possible.
Some factors may indicate or cause you to suspect that money laundering is taking place. Below is a non-exhaustive list of such factors to consider:
the customer is reluctant to provide details of their identity and source of funds;
one party to the transaction is established in a ‘high-risk’ country;
there is another organisation better placed than the Company to act and there is no apparent reason why the customer has chosen us instead;
The company structure in place is complex and the beneficial ownership unclear;
one or more individuals involved are in public positions and/or are from locations that carry a higher exposure to the possibility of money laundering;
monies are paid by a third party who does not appear to be connected with the customer;
funds are to be sent abroad or to an unconnected party and/or unusual;
The parties change late in the transaction;
there is a request from the customer for us to hold cash in our account for no reason;
there is a request from the customer to pay the full or a large payment to us in cash or cleared funds up front;
The complexity of the transaction is unnecessary for what the parties are hoping to achieve;
Foreign currency is used to pay part of the funds;
there are multiple payments, each made from different bank accounts;
the sources of funds are unusual.
IF IN DOUBT ABOUT WHETHER A PARTICULAR ACT SIGNIFIES MONEY LAUNDERING ACTIVITY, ASK.
Raise it with the compliance manager as soon as possible and then follow the directions given by the compliance manager only. Do not investigate further yourself, do not voice any suspicions to anyone else and do not make any notes regarding the matter on any file. You must avoid the offence of “tipping off”.
I PROTECTION
If you raise, in good faith, a genuine concern about money laundering by another person, we will support you, even if you turn out to be mistaken. We encourage openness and are committed to ensuring no one suffers any detrimental treatment as a result of refusing to be involved in any way with committing and or facilitating money laundering including but not limited to aiding, procuring money laundering or making a report that an actual or potential money laundering offence has taken place or may take place in the future.
9.3 Detrimental treatment includes dismissal, disciplinary action, threats or other unfavourable treatment for raising a concern. If you believe that you have suffered any such treatment, you should inform the compliance manager immediately. If the matter is not remedied, and you are an employee, you should raise it formally using our Grievance Procedure within the Staff Handbook.
J CUSTOMER IDENTIFICATION AND DUE DILIGENCE
All customers are required to provide basic information as part of our due diligence process. This includes, but is not limited to, full name, address, date of birth (individuals) and registration details (corporate bodies).
Where a transaction or customer appears to be ‘high risk’ we may conduct additional due diligence known as ‘enhanced due diligence’ which involves an increased level of information and identification verification requirements. We set out below some examples of situations that could be considered to be “high risk”:
a new customer;
a new person joins a customer;
a customer not well known to the Company;
customers in known high risk industries and/or jurisdictions;
unusual transactions or transactions that appear unusual for the relevant customer;
complex payment arrangements and/or transaction;
a politically exposed person (“PCP”) or an immediate family member or a close associate of a PCP is a party to the transaction; and/or
where this is usually expected, there is no face-to-face meetings with the customer where this is usually expected.
The money laundering risk for a customer must be assessed by the employee, temporary staff and/or contractors dealing with them. If there are any suspicions that enhanced due diligence is required, before any relationship or engagement may continue, the compliance manager must be notified of the suspicion and the reasons for it. The compliance manager will be required to approve the continuance of the business relationship before it can proceed.
If enhanced due diligence is required, the compliance manager must obtain additional information on the customer, its beneficial owner(s), on the intended nature of the business relationship, on the source of the customers and its beneficial owners, funds and wealth. In addition, enhanced monitoring of the business relationship should be put into effect.
Enhanced due diligence may include but is not limited to the following:
checking the organisation website to confirm its business address, the identity of its personnel and any other details known to the Company;
attending the customer at their business address to confirm its existence and functioning;
checking publicly available beneficial ownership registers such as registers available at Companies House;
in the case of a PCP, seeking the approval of senior management and establishing the source of wealth and funds; and
ensuring that payment are made into a bank account in the customer’s name.
A business relationship or transaction cannot proceed if satisfactory evidence of identity is not obtained or available at the outset. If satisfactory evidence of identity is not obtained or available at that time, this must be reported to the compliance manager. The compliance manager will then consider if a report needs to be submitted to the National Crime Agency and act accordingly.
The risk level of each customer will be regularly reviewed by the compliance manager. This shall be done by considering the information held on each customer to ensuring it is up to date and consistent with the expectations of the company based on its knowledge of the customer and its business.
K TRAINING AND COMMUNICATION
All individuals who work for us shall receive training on this policy as part of the induction process and that training shall be repeated as necessary and at least annually for those employees, workers and associated persons identified as being at risk of exposure to money laundering activity.
At the start of any business relationship with third parties, we shall communicate our zero-tolerance approach to money laundering activity and set it out in all written contracts, with regular reminders for the duration of the relationship and require such third parties to also adopt a zero-tolerance approach.
L BREACHES OF THIS POLICY
Breaches of this policy by employees may lead to disciplinary action.
Breaches of this policy by third parties working on our behalf may result in termination of that relationship.
M RISK SCENARIOS
Risk scenarios illustrate potential red flags that may raise concerns related to money laundering and occur when you are working for or with us. The list is not exhaustive and should you encounter any red flags, listed here or otherwise, you must promptly report them to the compliance manager:
If in the course of your work you become aware that a third party has:
made or intends to make a false statement relating to tax;
failed to disclose income or gains to, or to register with HMRC;
delivered or intends to deliver a false document relating to tax; or
set up or intends to set up a structure to try to hide income, gains or assets from a tax authority;
deliberately failed to register for VAT or failed to account for VAT;
that an employee asks to be treated as a self-employed contractor, but without any material changes to their working conditions;
a supplier or other subcontractor is paid gross when they should have been paid net, under a scheme such as the Construction Industry Scheme;
a third-party requests payment in cash and/or refuses to sign a formal commission or fee agreement, or to provide an invoice for the payment to be made;
a third-party requests that payment is made to a country or geographic location different from where the third party resides or conducts business;
a third party to whom we have provided services requests that their invoice is addressed to a different entity, where we did not provide services to such entity directly;
a third party to whom we have provided services asks us to change the description of services rendered on an invoice in a way that seems designed to obscure the nature of the services provided;
you receive an invoice from a third party that appears to be non-standard or customised;
a third party insists on the use of side letters or refuses to put terms agreed in writing or asks for contracts or other documentation to be backdated;
you notice that we have been invoiced for a commission or fee payment that appears too large or too small, given the service stated to have been provided; or
a third party requests or requires the use of an agent, intermediary, consultant, distributor or supplier that is not typically used by or known to us.
N RECORD KEEPING AND DATA PROTECTION
In accordance with data protection laws, for 5 years from the later of the date of completion of a transaction or the date on which a contractual relationship ends, we will confidentially retain customer ID evidence and transaction details. We will also retain a written record of any risk assessment, policies, procedures, audits and anti-money laundering training programmes we have produced.
All customer personal data shall be collected and processed in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) and in accordance with our Data Protection Policy.