Employee shareholder shares

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Archived: The ability to offer tax-favoured employee shareholder shares or ESS (commonly used in private equity company arrangements) has now been removed. This was announced in the Autumn Statement 2016.

The changes relate to any employer shareholder agreements made on or after 1 December 2016.

The changes do not affect ESS agreements entered into prior to 1 December 2016.

The decision to abolish ESS followed evidence suggesting that the ESS is being used for tax planning purposes instead of for its originally intended use of supporting a more flexible workforce. The measure currently does not affect

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Share Incentives weekly highlights—21 November 2024

This week's edition of Share Incentives weekly highlights includes (1) Glass Lewis’ publication of its 2025 proxy voting guidelines and (2) HM Treasury’s consultation response and draft legislation for PISCES.

Share Incentives weekly highlights—14 November 2024

This week's edition of Share Incentives weekly highlights includes (1) publication of Finance Bill 2024–25, (2) a change in the bonus rates for SAYE schemes and (3) a new Q&A which considers the requirements of the 'trustee independence condition' in respect of employee ownership trusts (EOTs), which was announced as part of Autumn Budget 2024 and for which draft legislation has also been published.

Share Incentives weekly highlights—7 November 2024

This week's edition of Share Incentives weekly highlights includes (1) the Takeover Panel’s response to its recent consultation, in which it confirms a narrowing of the scope of the companies to which the Takeover Code applies, and (2) publication of our updated Practice Note: Comparison of UK Corporate Governance remuneration principles to reflect the Investment Association’s revised Principles of Remuneration.

Share Incentives weekly highlights—31 October 2024

This week's edition of Share Incentives weekly highlights includes (1) the key announcements from the Autumn Budget 2024, (2) HMRC’s Spotlight 66 regarding LLP arrangements used to disguise employment income, (3) the IoD’s new Code of Conduct for Directors, and (4) a new Q&A which looks at whether Share Incentive Plans and Save As You Earn schemes adopted by fully listed companies tend to have a life span of more than ten years, following the recent change in guidance published by the Investment Association.

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