Corporate Policies and Statements
Corporate policies set the tone for how a business behaves and what it will not tolerate. They turn legal duties and risk controls into clear, practical rules that staff can follow consistently.
This collection covers corporate social responsibility, business ethics, anti-bribery controls, and anti-money laundering (AML) policies and supporting tools. It is drafted with SMEs in mind, with straightforward language that is suitable for day-to-day use and staff training.
What Are These Templates Used For?
- Setting expectations on behaviour, gifts and hospitality, and ethical decision-making.
- Supporting anti-bribery compliance with practical procedures and reporting routes.
- Helping businesses that are subject to AML obligations, or that want proportionate AML controls, document their approach (including risk assessment and client identification steps).
- Providing clear statements you can share internally and externally where appropriate.
These templates are drafted by experienced solicitors and reflect UK law and established compliance practice where applicable.
Corporate Policies and Statements is part of Corporate. Just £38.50 + VAT provides unlimited downloads from Corporate for 1 year.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is our company legally required to have an anti-bribery policy?
No statute forces you to adopt one, but the Bribery Act 2010 makes a commercial organisation criminally liable if an associated person bribes on its behalf, and the only defence is proving you had adequate procedures to prevent it. A proportionate written policy with training and reporting routes is the core of that defence. The anti-bribery templates here are drafted for SMEs, where proportionate means straightforward rather than elaborate.
Does the new failure to prevent fraud offence apply to a company our size?
Directly, only if you are large: the offence, in force since 1 September 2025, applies to organisations meeting two of three thresholds, over 36 million pounds turnover, over 18 million pounds in assets or more than 250 employees. Smaller companies feel it indirectly, as large customers push fraud prevention duties down their supply chains. Reasonable fraud prevention procedures are the defence, and the ethics and controls templates here support them.
Do we need an anti-money laundering policy if we are not a bank?
Only businesses in the regulated sector, such as accountancy, legal services, estate agency and money services, are legally required to have AML controls under the Money Laundering Regulations and to register with a supervisor. Outside those sectors a policy is voluntary but increasingly expected by banks, insurers and larger customers during onboarding. The AML templates here include a risk assessment and client identification steps you can scale to your exposure.
What is the difference between a CSR policy and a business ethics policy, and do we need both?
They point in different directions. A corporate social responsibility policy states commitments to the outside world, community, environment and supply chain standards. A business ethics policy governs internal conduct, gifts and hospitality, conflicts of interest and decision making. Small companies often start with ethics, then add CSR when tendering or larger customers request it. This sub-folder provides both, drafted in plain language for day to day use and staff training.