Tax advantaged employee share schemes

Last updated: 05/09/2024

In 2023, the previous government ran a call for evidence on the Save As You Earn (SAYE) and Share Incentive Plan (SIP) all employee share schemes. These are tax-advantaged schemes, which have to be offered to all employees.
The aim of the call for evidence was to assess whether the schemes still achieve their purpose of motivating and retaining employees in their employment. In particular, the previous government sought views on:

the effectiveness and suitability of the schemes and whether they are fulfilling their policy objectives
current usage and participation and whether there are barriers to participating in the schemes
whether the schemes’ rules are simple and clear as well as whether they offer enough flexibility to meet individual firms’ needs
whether the schemes suitably incentivise share ownership for lower income earners
what other performance incentives businesses offer their employees and how these compare with SAYE and SIP

Timing: The call for evidence closed on 25 August 2023. The timeframe for any reform remains unclear. It is not clear whether the new government is considering the outstanding issues.

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