Sharp rise in employee share ownership - ifs ProShare survey

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Sharp rise in employee share ownership – ifs ProShare survey

The number of employees choosing to take up shares in the company for which they work for has risen in the past year, according to the 2013 ifs ProShare survey of SAYE and SIP schemes.

Key survey results

• The number of SAYE sharesave accounts rose by 150,000 to just over 1.2 million in 2012.
• The number of employees participating in share incentive plans (SIPs) rose 6% from 908,905 to 960,988.
• Employees in SAYE schemes increased their average monthly savings from £82.02 in 2008 to £105.83 in 2012.
• Employees are also saving more in SIP plans, with the average monthly investment rising to £83.37, up from £71.86 in 2011.

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A final word

“With all of the FTSE indices showing steady rises over the past 18 months and several recent examples of employees directly benefitting from share plan maturities, many of the UK’s employees are keen to explore how share ownership can boost their savings. Similarly, given the strong performance of companies such as BT that operate successful employee share ownership schemes, business leaders are looking at incentives that boost productivity and reduce staff turnover.

“These figures again demonstrate that employee share ownership is a popular, tax-efficient incentive for employees at all levels. And, following the review by the Office for Tax Simplification for streamlining the processes by which employee share plans are administered in the coming year, it will become simpler for businesses and their employees to implement such schemes.” - John Collison, Head of Employee Share Ownership at ifs ProShare.

Want to know more?

ifs ProShare is part of the Institute of Financial Services: "We are a not-for-profit membership organisation that provides a voice for the employee share ownership (ESO) industry. We act as an essential point of liaison between ESO professionals, service providers and companies committed to and involved in employee share plans and other share ownership schemes. We provide a forum for members to come together and share knowledge, ideas and expertise."

To find out more visit www.ifsproshare.org.

>>> Review of Unapproved Employee Share Schemes: Final report, published by the Office of Tax Simplification in January 2013 is available at www.gov.uk/government/publications/employee-share-schemes-review.