Following the announcement in the Spring Budget statement, on 5 May 2023, the Government published its call for evidence on non-discretionary tax-advantaged employee share schemes, Save As You Earn (SAYE) and the Share Incentive Plan (SIP), which can be found here. The Government also published its final report on Share Scheme Evaluation – CSOP, SAYE…

June 21, 2023 Read more >

An annual return needs to be submitted by all companies which have an active employee share plan registered with HMRC. This includes tax-advantaged share plans such as EMI, CSOP, SAYE and SIP as well as any non-tax advantaged plans or arrangements such as unapproved options, conditional share awards (or restricted stock units), growth share plans…

April 19, 2023 Read more >

In the Spring budget 2023, the following reform to the CSOP rules and changes to the EMI rules, effective from 6 April 2023, have been announced: Reform of CSOP The CSOP rules will be reformed, as previously announced by the government on 23 September 2022, in the following manner: paragraph 6(1) of the CSOP legislation…

March 16, 2023 Read more >

Companies with Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) have typically been overlooked by Private Equity firms due to their perceived 100% employee-owned structure. However, in recent years, companies have been using more partial ESOPs. Could this be the turn of the tide for PE firms to consider these companies alongside the benefits that an ESOP provides?…

February 24, 2023 Read more >

Listed companies are required to put their directors’ remuneration policy to a shareholder resolution at least every three years. If a company wishes to make any changes to its remuneration policy, it must put the new policy to shareholders for approval at an annual general meeting (AGM). Several listed companies are likely to be seeking…

January 26, 2023 Read more >

Looking back on a year of turmoil 2022 was supposed to be the year in which we started to get back to normal, or to embrace the “new” normal. In January, COVID was a declining force, inflation was 5.5%, investors anticipated a brighter outlook for the UK economy and the FTSE100 index closed above 7,500…

December 21, 2022 Read more >

HMRC has recently updated their guidance in the HMRC manuals at ETASSUM54300 on their views about what would and would not constitute acceptable exercise of discretion in the context of EMI Options. Background Paragraph 37 of Schedule 5 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 provides that the terms of any EMI Option…

November 22, 2022 Read more >

The Growth Plan 2022 announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer includes some changes to the employee share schemes, a summary of which is set out below. Company Share Option Plan (CSOP) Perhaps the most significant change announced in the Growth Plan 2022 affects CSOPs. In particular, the individual limit is being increased from £30,000…

October 12, 2022 Read more >

On the 12th July, the ESOP Centre hosted a members’ webclave titled “Are Broad-Based Share Plans Still Fit For Purpose?”. The guest speakers covered a number of topics and issues affecting broad-based share plans today. An employee share scheme is a powerful tool for employee retention and alignment of stakeholder interests. As employment practices are…

July 19, 2022 Read more >

On the 23rd June, The ESOP Centre hosted a webinar titled ‘Share Schemes and the Impact of Inflation’. The comprehensive presentation covered a number of topics including the dangers of stagflation, the cost-of-living crisis and how employee share schemes may be used to combat this issue, with a particular focus on the economics of the situation.…

June 29, 2022 Read more >

Many readers will be aware that last month, the IA issued its response to two issues arising from Russian sanctions and the economic impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, namely: LTI award sizes in light of the recent fall in share prices; and Whether a six-month delay in setting LTI targets would be appropriate, owing…

April 19, 2022 Read more >

The UK inflation rate increased to 4.2% in October, the highest rate in almost 10 years, driven primarily by the demand for oil and gas pushing energy prices up, supply problems caused by a shortage of goods, and government aid during the COVID-19 pandemic. But how is this likely to affect people, and are expected…

December 7, 2021 Read more >