The Modern Slavery Act 2015 requires large businesses, with sales of over £36 million, to be transparent about their efforts to eradicate Slavery and Human Trafficking. The Bowker Motor Group has a zero-tolerance approach to Modern Slavery of any kind within our operations and supply chain. This statement therefore explains the steps we have taken during the financial year to ensure that slavery and human trafficking is not taking place in any of our supply chains or any part of our business.
Andrew Gee, Group Chief Financial Officer, will take responsibility and accountability for implementing this statement.
Our Business and Supply Chains
Bowker Motor Group is a family run UK business situated in Lancashire and the brand portfolio includes BMW and MINI based in Preston and Blackburn, BMW Motorrad, based in Preston, Porsche based in Preston and Bolton.
Our supply chain includes anyone that provides a product or service to us and consists primarily of manufacturers, dealerships, and contractors.
As a result of the franchise nature of our business, a large proportion of our supply chain relationships are with a number of large multinational vehicle manufacturers. The contracts that we have in place with these manufacturers contain specific policy clauses on the modern slavery act to ensure all businesses conduct their operations in line with the legislation.
Due Diligence
As part of our initiative to identify and mitigate risk we have taken various steps to ensure our business has systems in place to:
- Identify and assess potential risk areas in our supply chain
- Mitigate the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring in our supply chain
- Monitor potential risk areas in our supply chain
- Protect whistle blowers
We are achieving this by:
- Committing at management level to take immediate action regarding any workplace concerns raised through our reporting procedures
- Only employing candidates that have applied direct to Bowker Motor Group or through our preferred employment agency suppliers
- Right to Work and Identity checks
- Ensuring that all employees are paid at least the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wag
Commitment
We are proud of the steps taken and are committed to continue this going forward. We have introduced training for managers on modern slavery awareness and signs of modern slavery. The Company Handbook includes our Whistleblowing Policy, Harassment and Bullying Policy. This information is provided to all new employees during their induction on joining the business and a copy is available from the Human Resources department.
We will investigate thoroughly any claim or indication that areas of our business or supply chains are engaging in human trafficking or slave labour. Any such claims that come to the attention will be reported to senior management in accordance with our whistle blowing policy. The board of directors will be informed of any issues including details of the investigations, the findings and the outcome so that remedial action if required can be resourced without delay.
This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes our Group's slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ending 2023 / 2024
This statement is approved by:
Andy Gee
Group Cheif Financial Officer
19 May 2025