Anti-Bribery and Corruption at Work: A Practical Guide

Bribery rarely announces itself as bribery. It arrives as a generous "thank you" gift after a contract is signed, a request from an overseas agent for a small "facilitation fee" to clear paperwork, or a supplier's offer to cover a lavish weekend "conference." For UK and Irish employers, getting this wrong is not just a reputational risk — it is a criminal one, both for the individual involved and, under corporate offences in both jurisdictions, for the organisation itself. This guide sets out what counts as bribery, how the Bribery Act 2010 and Ireland's Criminal Justice (Corruption Offences) Act 2018 apply at work, and what every employee should watch for. If your role calls for structured compliance training more broadly, our CPD courses cover this and related regulatory topics in depth.

What Counts as Bribery?

The Bribery Act 2010 makes it an offence to offer, promise or give a financial or other advantage to induce someone to perform a function improperly (active bribery, under Section 1), and equally an offence to request, agree to receive or accept such an advantage (passive bribery, under Section 2). A separate offence under Section 6 covers bribing a foreign public official. Crucially, the Act does not require the bribe to actually influence anyone, or for the underlying deal to go ahead — the offer or request alone is enough to commit an offence. It applies to giving and receiving alike, to the private sector as much as the public sector, and can catch conduct anywhere in the world where there is a sufficient UK connection.

Facilitation payments — small, informal payments made to a public official to speed up a routine action they are already obliged to carry out, such as releasing goods held at customs — are bribes under the Act. There is no exemption for these payments, however small the sum or however "normal" the practice seems locally.

The Corporate Offence: Section 7 and the Adequate Procedures Defence

Section 7 of the Bribery Act 2010 created an offence that was novel at the time: the failure of a commercial organisation to prevent bribery. If a person "associated with" the organisation — an employee, agent, subsidiary or contractor — bribes someone with the intention of winning or retaining business, or a business advantage, for that organisation, the organisation itself can be held strictly liable, even where senior management knew nothing about it. The only defence available is showing that the organisation had "adequate procedures" in place designed to prevent bribery.

The Ministry of Justice's statutory guidance sets out six principles that adequate procedures should reflect:

• Proportionate procedures — matched to the organisation's actual size, sector and risk profile, not a generic template.
• Top-level commitment — leadership visibly setting a zero-tolerance culture, not simply signing off a policy document.
• Risk assessment — periodic, documented assessment of where bribery risk actually sits, across markets, roles and third parties.
• Due diligence — proportionate checks on the people and organisations acting on the company's behalf.
• Communication, including training — so staff know the policy exists, understand it and know how to raise a concern.
• Monitoring and review — procedures are revisited and improved over time, not filed away and forgotten.

Organisations of any size can be prosecuted; there is no exemption for smaller businesses, though the guidance is clear that what counts as "adequate" scales with actual risk. Penalties for organisations under Section 7 are unlimited fines; individuals convicted of bribery offences can face up to ten years' imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine, on top of the wider fallout of debarment from public contracts and lasting reputational damage.

Ireland: The Criminal Justice (Corruption Offences) Act 2018

The Republic of Ireland took its own significant step with the Criminal Justice (Corruption Offences) Act 2018, consolidating and modernising a patchwork of earlier corruption law. It criminalises "corruptly" offering, giving, requesting or accepting a gift, consideration or advantage as an inducement or reward connected to a person's office, employment, position or business — again capturing both active and passive corruption, across both the public and private sectors.

Like the UK, Ireland introduced corporate liability: a company can be held liable where a director, manager, employee, agent or subsidiary commits a corruption offence with the intention of obtaining or retaining business, or a business advantage, for the company. And, echoing the UK's adequate procedures defence, an Irish company has a defence available if it can show it took "all reasonable steps and exercised all due diligence" to avoid the offence being committed — making documented anti-corruption policies, training and due diligence just as central to compliance in Ireland as in the UK. On conviction on indictment, companies face unlimited fines and individuals face unlimited fines and up to ten years' imprisonment.

Facilitation Payments: Why the UK Is Stricter Than the US

One area that catches employees out, particularly those working internationally, is facilitation payments. Under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), a narrow exception has historically existed for small payments made to expedite a routine, non-discretionary government action a person is already entitled to receive. The Bribery Act 2010 has no equivalent exception. A facilitation payment is treated as a bribe in the UK, regardless of size or local custom. Employees who have previously worked under FCPA-influenced policies sometimes assume a small "speed payment" is acceptable; under UK law it is not, and it can trigger both an individual offence and the organisation's Section 7 exposure. If your work takes you into markets where such payments are common practice, treat every request as a red flag and escalate it rather than deciding the question locally.

Red Flags to Watch For

Bribery in practice rarely looks like an envelope of cash. Warning signs to watch for include: requests to pay a supplier, agent or consultant unusually high fees relative to the service provided; invoices routed through a country unconnected to the work being done; pressure to bypass normal procurement or due-diligence steps for an "important" client or supplier; unusually generous gifts, hospitality or "consultancy" offers timed around a decision or tender; and a counterparty who insists on cash, personal accounts or unusual payment routes. Gifts and hospitality are one of the most common grey areas employees face day to day — thresholds and approval routes for these are covered in detail in our companion guide to gifts and hospitality in the workplace. Bribery risk also frequently overlaps with personal conflicts of interest, which we cover separately in our guide to conflicts of interest.

Third-Party and Agent Risk

Most enforcement action under Section 7 and its Irish equivalent does not involve an employee handing over cash directly — it involves a third party: an agent, distributor, joint venture partner, consultant or other intermediary acting, or claiming to act, on the organisation's behalf. Because "associated persons" under the Bribery Act includes anyone performing services for the organisation, not just employees, due diligence on agents and intermediaries is one of the six MoJ principles for good reason. Warning signs include agents based in a jurisdiction unrelated to the service being provided, commission rates well above market norms, resistance to anti-bribery clauses in contracts, or a request to route fees to a third party or offshore account rather than the contracting party itself. Where third-party relationships extend into sanctioned jurisdictions or restricted counterparties, this due-diligence discipline overlaps closely with sanctions screening; our related piece on sanctions compliance looks at how that adjacent risk area is typically managed in professional services.

How to Report a Concern

If something looks or feels wrong — an unusual payment request, pressure from a manager, a gift that seems designed to influence a decision — raise it. Most organisations operate a whistleblowing or "speak up" line specifically so that concerns can be raised confidentially, without needing certainty first. You do not need proof of wrongdoing to raise a concern, only a genuine and reasonable suspicion. Delaying, or deciding to "watch and see," can itself add to the risk facing you and your organisation: the earlier a concern is raised, the more options there are to deal with it properly. Check your organisation's anti-bribery and corruption policy for the specific reporting route, and remember that retaliation against someone who raises a genuine concern in good faith is itself treated as a serious disciplinary matter.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it bribery if I never actually accept the gift or payment?

Yes. Under the Bribery Act 2010, offering, promising or requesting an advantage is enough to commit an offence — it does not need to be accepted, and the underlying deal does not need to go ahead.

Does the Bribery Act apply if the bribery happens entirely outside the UK?

In many cases, yes. The corporate offence under Section 7 can apply to any organisation that carries on business in the UK, regardless of where the bribery itself takes place, and UK nationals and UK-incorporated companies can also be prosecuted for bribery committed abroad.

Are small facilitation payments ever acceptable in the UK or Ireland?

No. Unlike the position historically taken under the US FCPA, neither the Bribery Act 2010 nor Ireland's Criminal Justice (Corruption Offences) Act 2018 provides any exemption for facilitation payments, however small or locally routine they may seem.

What is the difference between a reasonable business gift and a bribe?

Context and intent matter more than value alone: timing around a decision, whether the gift is proportionate and given transparently, and whether it is intended to influence a decision are the key tests. Our dedicated guide to gifts and hospitality covers practical thresholds and approval routes in more depth.

Anti-bribery and corruption obligations sit alongside a wider set of workplace compliance responsibilities — from conflicts of interest to gifts and hospitality to sanctions screening — and getting them right protects both you and your organisation. Learnsignal's CPD library includes structured compliance training to help you and your team meet these obligations with confidence.