The Government is running a call for evidence on how to simplify and widen accessibility to employee share schemes.

The Treasury is inviting comments on ‘save as you earn’ (SAYE), the company share option plan (CSOP) and the share incentive plan (SIP) until 25th August 2023. 

The aim of the call for evidence is to improve the schemes and make them easier for businesses to set up.

Businesses and representatives can answer questions online to have their say and to help the improvement process.

What is an Employee Share Scheme?

Employee share schemes give companies ways to incentivise employees performance or to improve retention of key staff, by offering them a direct stake in the company, together with a more generous tax treatment.

Why don’t businesses use the schemes?

A recent Government survey found that a third (31%) of businesses find the schemes too complicated to set up, describing them as “time-consuming and costly”. 

The evaluation also showed that more than half (55%) of companies did not know whether they had registered for SAYE, CSOP or SIP in the last ten years.

Meanwhile, 38% of these “unaware claimant companies” said they did not offer employee share schemes because of “corporate governance, financing and structure”.

And yet, 81% of respondents said share schemes help boost their business, with almost three-quarters saying the schemes help them retain and recruit staff.

In June 2022, 1,030 employee-owned businesses were running in the UK.

Victoria Atkins, financial secretary to the Treasury, said: ‘Employee share schemes are an effective way to boost motivation in workforces by giving people an extra stake in what they do – and they offer a boost for business. Growing the economy is a priority for this government, and one way to make this happen is by making these schemes as easy as possible to set up.’

You can find full details on the Evaluation here.