More than 50 companies have written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, calling on the new Government to introduce a plan to reform the UK’s employee share ownership plans.
Signatories to the letter include some of the UK’s biggest companies, such as Vodafone, EasyJet, Wickes, Aviva, National Grid, Legal & General, Kingfisher and Croda.
They call on Rachel Reeves to ‘bring forward share plan reforms… at the earliest opportunity’ and express disappointment at the previous government’s decision not to have done so.
They add that there’s now a ‘once-in-a-generation opportunity to strengthen the UK’s all-employee share plans’
The letter was sent from ProShare, the industry body for employee share ownership, to the Treasury on 11 September, twelve months after the previous Government’s call for evidence on Save As You Earn (SAYE), and Share Incentive Plan (SIP) employee share plan reform was closed.
At the Spring Budget 2023 the Conservative Government announced its plans to consult on reform of employee share plans. In May 2023 the call for evidence was launched and closed at the end of August.
But no further action was taken, despite ongoing lobbying efforts from ProShare and more than 40 companies who wrote to the then Chancellor – Jeremy Hunt – in December 2023, calling on the Treasury to publish its reform plans.
Despite closing over a year ago, the share plan industry has had no formal indication from the Treasury when a response can be expected.
Murray Tompsett, Head of ProShare, said: ”That so many of the UK’s leading companies are calling today on the Chancellor to act is an indication of just how important the SIP and SAYE plans are to their operations, their productivity, and their employees.”
Since their introduction, over 20 million British workers have participated in workplace share plans.
